With the league opening imminent, major guilds had dispatched professional analysis teams to recruit potential talent for their ranks.
At this moment, these headhunters were gathered in the guild hall, chatting in small groups and occasionally breaking into hearty laughter.
The scene appeared harmonious on the surface, but in reality, they were subtly trying to pry information from one another; interacting with these old headhunters required constant focus, as one slip-up could reveal vital guild intelligence.
Simultaneously, the headhunters kept their eyes fixed on the entrance of the hall, and almost every player who entered felt hundreds of gazes fall upon them in unison, like needles against their backs.
"Brother Li, things have been quite calm lately. By this time in previous years, your Steel Will would have already conquered Black Steel City as your guild base, wouldn't it? Why has there been no movement this year? Could it be that you didn't sign up for this league?"
"Brother Chen, you're joking. We don't plan to invest too much manpower into fighting for map resources this year. This league is so important that we must naturally conserve our strength."
"That doesn't seem right. Isn't Steel Will planning to advance toward the Borderlands?"
"Oh, that was a piece of false information our guild leader specifically spread to flush out suspected moles. Wait, that's strange, Brother Chen, how does your Shadow's Blade guild know about this so clearly?"
"Brother Chen, are you admitting that Shadow's Blade planted a mole in Steel Will?"
"So, Brother Li, you are admitting that Steel Will is currently conducting a strict investigation for moles and has no intention of actually advancing into the Borderlands?"
"Haha."
"Haha."
Just then, a commotion erupted at the hall entrance.
"It's her! How is this possible!" someone blurted out.
"Wait, am I seeing this right?" someone else rubbed their eyes, thinking they were mistaken.
"There's no mistake. Look at the title above her head!"
Following the cries of surprise, a young girl walked into the hall under everyone's gaze. Her amber eyes were bright and peaceful, and her dazzling long golden hair cascaded behind her over a black shawl that reached down to her waisted vest-skirt, adorned with a neatly tied floral bow.
She had not hidden her delicate face, and the honorary title hanging above her head was incredibly eye-catching.
'Light-Chaser Flower-Bearer · Hellend.'
"It's Dark Gold Rose!" someone finally pointed out the girl's name.
There was no mistaking it; the server-wide announcement from two days ago had caused a massive uproar. The Oasis officials had issued exclusive titles to every luminous prism grade fixer who entered Oasis, such as 'Arbiter Jingbai' and 'Deep Blue Submerger.'
Dark Gold Rose was no exception; her title was—'Light-Chaser Flower-Bearer'!
Furthermore, Dark Gold Rose was the only player in the entire server to achieve a Hellend—a Hell Ending—in the newbie dungeon.
Generally speaking, dungeon endings were divided into four categories, corresponding to:
Trueend (True Ending);
Happyend (Happy Ending);
Badend (Bad Ending);
Openend (Open Ending).
Thus, when that server-wide announcement for a Hellend was displayed, it shocked nearly all Oasis players, as it was the first time they had ever heard of such an ending existing.
As the only achiever of a Hellend, Xu Xiaoyou naturally received a tremendous amount of attention.
Setting aside the obsessed fans posting fanart and edited videos of Dark Gold Rose.
A massive number of 'insiders' and 'analysis gods' on the world forum were arguing incessantly over the possible conditions for triggering that ending, ranging from deducing the dungeon conditions to inferring Xu Xiaoyou's experiences, personality, and interpersonal relationships, even taking into account her habit of flipping a coin when anxious.
Some pointed out that Dark Gold Rose's personality was extremely arrogant, which was one of the reasons she could achieve such an ending.
Some conspiracy theorists jumped out at this time, saying that Dark Gold Rose was actually an internal member of the Order Court and that all of this was just the family building hype for her; others even pessimistically believed that Dark Gold Rose had actually been controlled by the Order Court and had become a puppet.
It had reached a point where Xu Xiaoyou didn't even know how to react. It was one thing for these people to analyze it, but the key was that their analyses were so logically sound and backed by various examples that she herself was almost starting to believe them.
None of the various guild factions could stand the other's conspiracy theories, and rational discussion quickly devolved into fierce flame wars. The result was that administrators locked all discussion threads and prohibited further debate, though even today, people still visited those 'battlegrounds' to leave comments.
Facing the surprised gazes of the crowd, a faint, imperceptible smile tugged at the corner of Xu Xiaoyou's lips as she slowly walked toward the NPC for guild registration.
"It really is Dark Gold Rose. Her current level is—grade 3 level 6? How is that possible? Didn't she just enter Oasis a few days ago?"
"In about a week, she's gone up a full thirty-plus levels?"
While the others were still in shock, an analyst from a small guild reacted quickly, walking briskly to stand before Xu Xiaoyou. With a solemn expression and a respectful attitude, he handed over an invitation letter.
"Miss Dark Gold Rose, would you consider our guild? We can tilt our resources toward you to the maximum extent and protect you throughout your journey!"
"Hey, hey! You bastard, how dare you try to jump the gun! That's too despicable!"
This action instantly ignited the anger of all the headhunters and piqued the competitive spirit of the major guilds.
The crowd swarmed forward, quickly surrounding Xu Xiaoyou in the center. For a moment, it was a cacophony of voices, and the scene became extremely chaotic.
"Steel Will guild... Who stepped on me!"
"Miss Dark Gold, look at our Daybreak Elegy! Our guild leader, Pink Jellyfish, is super cute!"
"King's Clan... Who touched my tail? I'm a man!" A boy wearing a small crown, standing less than 1.4 meters tall and wagging a long cat tail, jumped up and shouted. "Why are you touching it even harder now!"
"I caught a little kitten here, he's coming home with me."
"Lady Dark Gold Rose, look at our guild!" Someone held up a guild invitation high, but before they could finish speaking, their head was pressed down by a burly man dressed in a maid uniform. The latter covered his face shyly while holding up a cat teaser.
"Miss Dark Gold Rose, let me tell you about 'Rose Cattery.' We're all your fans, meow~"
The scene was too painful to look at directly.
"Miss Dark Gold Rose, please... Assassin's Creed..."
The youth squeezed outside the frantic crowd saw his voice fading and gave up helplessly, because he clearly saw the recruiter from Silent Sequence stepping forward.
Sitting in a corner from the start, Nanjiamu wore a look of disdain. The youth had never intended to step forward; in his eyes, these guild headhunters were simply asking for humiliation.
Just as Xu Xiaoyou was finding it impossible to move through the crowd and was about to speak up to stop them, the people surrounding her suddenly went silent collectively and voluntarily moved aside to open a path.
"Beautiful Lady Dark Gold Rose."
A man dressed in a formal suit and wearing a white mask stepped out from the crowd.
He was the recruiter for Silent Sequence.
Xu Xiaoyou noticed that when the man stepped out, the surrounding guild headhunters all showed expressions of frustration.
The faces that were previously brimming with enthusiasm now dimmed one after another, relegated to the background.
Before Silent Sequence—the second-largest guild in the server, which led the third-place guild by a staggering margin of points—all the advantages of the other guilds faded and became worthless.
Whether it was the capital chain, influence, guild heritage, personnel cohesion, or high-end combat power, the behemoth that was Silent Sequence was something the other guild headhunters could never hope to match.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am a recruiter for Silent Sequence, 'Mr. 30 Decibels.' You may simply call me 30 Decibels." The man calling himself 30 Decibels adjusted his collar, his every gesture exuding confidence and stability, as well as the arrogance hidden deep behind his mask.
Xu Xiaoyou could hear that his speech rate and tone remained perfectly consistent, with his volume stabilized at thirty decibels without any fluctuation. Such a feat clearly required long-term, specialized training to achieve.
Furthermore, during the handshake, even though it was only for a fleeting moment, Xu Xiaoyou's peripheral vision caught sight of a pentagram mark on the man's shoulder through his collar.
Her gaze suddenly narrowed.
The recruiter for Silent Sequence...
Was a member of the Pole Star Society?
Rate on N.U.
