"Hey, have you heard? Silver Blue Esports Guild is recruiting! They say you get a salary for completing tasks, and it’s paid in cash too!"
In Dawn City, on the bustling streets crowded with vehicles, two players stood under a silver-grey mechanical street lamp, eying the fanciful mechanical vehicles passing by as they chatted leisurely.
"You’re talking about that recent promotion for the mechanical network, right? It’s all over the forums already."
Hearing his companion’s words, the other player nodded.
"The top two thousand players on the promotional leaderboard each get a guaranteed bonus of at least three thousand, or equivalent in-game resources. The top hundred get an extra bonus, and now the number of registered participants is nearing a hundred thousand!"
"Tsk tsk, that’s big spending. Just showering rewards like that must cost them nearly ten million at least. Wonder what these rich folks are really after."
"It’s just a case of more money than sense, huh? Must be nice to be rich..."
With a slightly envious tone, they discussed for a bit before turning to leave, continuing with their unfinished tasks.
At the same time, not only were these independent players curious about their purpose, but the strategic analysis teams of the Radiance and Silver Blue Esports clubs were also puzzled by this matter.
What kind of task had Silver Blue taken on to warrant such a massive investment?
After all, such behavior seemed akin to working for NPCs for free.
The news of the imminent heated conflict between high-rank prophets is still sealed among the upper echelons, unknown to the outside world except for some special NPCs.
Similarly, due to lack of information, the two major clubs are also curious as to why Silver Blue is promoting the mechanical network with such disregard for cost.
Based on such a significant investment, the task acquired by Silver Blue Esports must be some kind of time-limited mission, and at least of the caliber of a main storyline of the continent, otherwise it wouldn’t justify the expense.
Similarly, if Silver Blue successfully completes a task that required such a massive initial investment, their strength would likely skyrocket to a new level overnight.
To this end, the other two major clubs have resorted to extreme measures, including insiders, aiming to investigate the real ins and outs of this matter.
But this time, the confidentiality measures of Silver Blue Club were unexpectedly well executed.
The insiders from both sides obtained some valuable information, but the contents of the information were diverse and even conflicting.
Out of options, both parties had to try finding answers in the game, leveraging all NPC relationships in the current state of the game to probe for relevant information.
This included trying to contact the Last Dragon Descendant, Anvis.
Previously, due to the attack involving the Eyes of the Gateway, the Elf had temporarily lost contact with Anvis through the crystal ball.
After struggling to complete the class change task and breaking through to level forty, he also tried to seek out Anvis to trigger the next task.
However, he was turned away at the door by the Olivendi Family guards who claimed that due to Anvis’s precarious situation, it was inconvenient to receive visitors.
With no other choice and considering the current version’s core focus on the Yiter Federation with more tasks and opportunities, the Elf also came here to develop and had already advanced to level forty-three.
Now, at the request of the little cat Tiramisu, the Last Dragon Descendant once again attempted to contact Anvis with a try-and-see attitude.
To his surprise, after the Magic Crystal Ball flickered, the connection was successfully established!
Only, unlike usual, the figure on the other end was clad in a pitch-black cloak, with an indistinct face, and the background was quite dark, indicating they might be in some special circumstances.
Meanwhile, Anvis sat in the study room of Embers Headquarters, looking at the Last Dragon Descendant on the other side of the crystal ball whose head was stuck in a fishbowl with a goldfish in it, feeling somewhat speechless.
He had always thought that the planner who designed this fashion must have water in his brain to even consider dragging the players’ minds into the water as well.
"Honored An...sir, I am your most loyal and devoted follower, Rivers! During the days I had to be away from you, every moment was spent missing your glorious deeds and majestic stature! Even in my dreams..."
A brief moment of confusion, but suspecting that the other party might be in a special situation that required hiding identity, the Elf quickly adjusted his thoughts and forcibly changed his words at the last moment, skipping over the address and calling him "sir" instead, while showering him with exaggerated flattery.
At the same time, he hurriedly canceled the display effect of the fashion NPC to reveal his own face.
"...Enough, Rivers, stop talking."
With a twitch at the corner of his eye, Anvis slightly raised his right hand, signaling that the Elf could stop now.
"Tell me, why did you contact me?"
"Honored sir, the thing is, I would like to inquire about the sudden and rapid spread of the mechanical network recently, whether there has been some special incident behind it..."
After receiving Anvis’s nod, the Elf quickly explained his purpose as clearly and succinctly as possible.
"The recent explosive spread of the mechanical network? Isn’t it all the doing of you foreigners."
Immediately understanding the Elf’s purpose, Anvis gave him a slanted look, feigning ignorance.
"No... what I mean is, they wouldn’t suddenly deploy a large number of personnel and rapidly promote it at all costs without reason.
Normal promotion would have the same effect; it would only take a bit more time, yet the cost could be reduced to a tenth of what it is now, or even lower."
The Elf’s expression became a bit awkward, and he lifted his hand to touch his nose, only to touch the glass of the fish tank instead.
"A good question. Seeing this shows that your perspective is higher than most people."
Anvis nodded, no longer pretending to be confused, and directly gave him the answer he needed.
"The answer to this question involves the nature of the Federation’s conflict. The Federation’s conflict is essentially a war between High Rank Prophets competing for the sole opportunity to break through.
Mechanical network, Glory Alliance, Resistance Organization, these are currently the main three forces supported by the Prophets."
"Behind the mechanical network stands the High Rank Prophet from the Federation Council. Their goal is to expand the network as much as possible, to influence the fate of more Federation citizens before the other factions do.
But now, the Resistance Army’s control has already approached thirty percent, and the Pactica Agreement is about to become ineffective. Once the agreement is voided, the nations of the Federation will lose their last safeguard.
At that time, it won’t just be minor skirmishes in smaller kingdoms, but a full-blown war involving most of the kingdoms of the entire Federation."
"By then, the Prophets behind the Resistance Army, whose actions have led to all this, will receive a large amount of destiny feedback, moving a step closer to breakthrough.
On the contrary, the faction behind the mechanical network could see the pace of network proliferation severely slowed down, or even regress, due to the conflict.
Therefore, what they lack the most now is actually time."
Staring at the Last Dragon Descendant, who was overwhelmed by the amount of information and unable to process it for a moment, Anvis suddenly shifted his tone.
"However, Rivers, the answer to this question is not without cost.
Now, I have a Task for you to undertake."
Given the current situation, he had some arrangements, which just so happened to require the strength of these Player groups.