The Fourth Disaster: People become gods through high martial arts and gaming

Chapter 176 They may make a lot of money, but I will never lose out (Combined chapters, bonus chapter for monthly votes)
Are they really that proactive?

Lin Qi was quite surprised to hear this. Originally, he just wanted the players to harass the four major forces and let them know that he was not someone to be trifled with.

Unexpectedly, these players are quite serious, having kept going until now, instead of learning from Li Ranxing and the others to break through to become martial artists as soon as possible.

He is now cultivating all three training methods simultaneously. The three of them, including Li Ranxing, simply cannot provide him with enough materials each day. In particular, the three accompanying secret techniques would take them an eternity to master, and even then, they would have to use them without significant side effects.

Secret techniques may be more powerful than ordinary martial arts techniques of the same level, but the side effects of each use are also greater. After all, it is a kind of extreme burst of power for the body. The stronger the burst, the stronger the backlash will be. Only by reaching a proficient level can the side effects be minimized.

The seventh-level secret technique, even for beginners, can cause a stinging pain all over the body with just one use, and it takes a long time to recover. If used continuously, it can be fatal.

In a contest between martial artists, it is perfectly normal to use martial arts techniques continuously. However, if one uses these techniques continuously when the skill level is only at the beginner level, and fails to kill the enemy, then one will surely die.

“Master, it would be one thing if those martial arts school disciples just kept harassing the four major powers, but now they’re going to their territories to fight to the death.” Meng Wei said with great concern, “In the morning it was alright, fewer of our martial arts school members died, but more of the four major powers died. But in the afternoon, the four major powers directly used their hidden strength.”

"Almost all those who made the move were near-martial arts practitioners and martial artists wearing B2-level armor. So far, at least several hundred of our martial arts school members have died, while the four major forces have suffered few casualties. If our martial arts school continues to fight like this, the disciples will probably be exhausted very soon."

"Once the martial arts school's disciples are all gone, other gangs that are just watching the show will definitely not let go of the Iron Heart Gang's territory that we occupy. At that time, it will be very difficult for our Obsidian Martial Arts School to recruit people. We must stop those martial arts school disciples as soon as possible."

“I understand, but this is a spontaneous act by the martial arts school disciples, and I cannot interfere, otherwise it will only discourage them.” Lin Qi nodded, then said righteously, “Moreover, the tradition of our Obsidian Martial Arts School is: we will not offend others unless they offend us, and if they offend us, we will surely kill them. Even if the people of our Obsidian Martial Arts School are wiped out by the four major powers, we will never back down an inch!”

"Master? This..." Meng Wei was stunned after hearing this, feeling that Lin Qi had gone mad.

After several major battles, Obsidian Martial Arts School finally established itself on the outskirts of the city and gained access to Iron Heart Gang's territory, allowing it to develop rapidly and with peace of mind.

Instead of trying to avoid the sharp edge of the four major forces, he actually thought about risking his life. Even the monsters in the wild probably weren't this crazy.

"Don't try to persuade me anymore. I fully agree with the disciples' choices. Do you have anything else to say?"

Lin Qi waved his hand, indicating that there was no room for negotiation on this matter.

The four major powers were indeed smarter than he thought, knowing to use their resources early on and deal with the situation with absolute power instead of choosing to fight it out, which certainly increased the difficulty for the players.

However, the advantage of the Fourth Calamity is its stubbornness. Although it only results in the loss of a small life, it can still cause some damage and shock to the four major powers.

Is there anything to hesitate about?

Even if he doesn't make a profit, at least he won't lose money.

Looking at the unyielding Lin Qi, Meng Wei sighed helplessly, feeling as if he had just escaped one danger only to fall into another. He truly had no peaceful days.

"Master, besides this matter, there's also the issue of recruiting new members for the martial arts school," Meng Wei said slowly. "Although we've taken over the Iron Heart Gang's former territory and can allow the recruited disciples to live in the suburbs, it's still difficult to recruit some useful experts. Suburban houses and pets alone are not enough to attract apprentices of advanced level or above. We need a large number of martial arts resources."

"Didn't we seize a Type I energy potion and a healing potion from the Iron Heart Gang?" Lin Qi asked Meng Wei curiously.

After destroying the Iron Heart Gang, he asked Meng Wei to recruit new members. After all, there were only a few hundred players left, and players would need to log off to rest. Managing the entire Iron Heart Gang's territory and maintaining the security of Red Moon Mountain in the future would require several thousand or even tens of thousands of people.

The type of energy potion and healing potion seized from the Iron Heart Gang this time have also been handed over to Meng Wei for management. Normally, he should be able to recruit quite a few useful experts.

“Under normal circumstances, it would be possible,” Meng Wei said with a wry smile. “But the current state of our martial arts school is not normal. The news that we are at war with the four major powers has spread throughout the City of Light. Apart from those aimless vagrants, no one is willing to join us.”

Recruiting for the Ironheart Gang used to be incredibly easy. They didn't need any energy or healing potions; at most, they'd just provide some Bits and housing, and a huge number of apprentices at the beginner level or above would flock to them.

These apprentices above the beginner level can only obtain Type 1 energy potions or healing potions through gang contributions and Bits, and even then, it's limited to two bottles a month. Once you become a core member of the gang, you can only exchange for ten bottles a month.

He has been running the Ironheart Gang for many years and it is still the main activity area for humans in the suburbs. He is willing to provide a bottle for free to apprentices above the junior level every month, and the monthly payout is 20% higher, but no one comes.

Even this afternoon, he increased the benefits for ordinary members to two bottles a month for free, which is 50% higher than Bit's, but still no one was willing to join.

Nowadays, the vast territory of the Iron Heart Gang, which normally requires several thousand people to maintain, is now maintained by less than two hundred martial arts school disciples who are not even apprentices. It's a truly pitiful sight.

If it weren't for the reputation of the Obsidian Martial Arts School, the surrounding gangs would have attacked long ago. Even if they didn't attack, they could have harassed the merchants, preventing them from moving out and reducing the revenue from their territory.

"In that case, announce to the public that from today onwards, all disciples recruited by our Obsidian Martial Arts Academy can learn the authentic training methods of the Obsidian Martial Arts Academy to become martial artists. As long as their contributions are sufficient, they can also exchange them for martial artist-level training methods. The learning fee is only one thousand bits per hour," Lin Qi said with a smile.

"Master, are you serious?" Meng Wei stared intently at Lin Qi, hardly believing his ears. "Can other members really learn freely? That's the foundation of the martial arts school!"

He had long admired the training methods of the Obsidian Martial Arts School.

Ye Qinglu's transformation into a martial artist was a scene he would never forget. The sheer strength of her qi and blood was even more intense than that of a beginner-level martial artist like himself. Even without guessing, it was clear that the training methods learned by the official disciples of the Obsidian Martial Arts Academy were far from ordinary martial artist-level methods. They were likely high-level martial artist-level methods that established forces in the suburbs never taught to outsiders.

This kind of training method is something that even a beginner-level martial artist like him could never obtain, let alone learn, even if he tried his best.

If it were truly open, allowing anyone to join and learn, Meng Wei was certain that the line of people wanting to join would stretch out of the city, and even members of other gangs would come to take advantage of the chaos.

"Of course, it's not just for members of the martial arts school; even those who aren't members can learn, though the tuition will be higher." Lin Qi nodded.

The system's task is not only to train more powerful players, but also to train more powerful local residents. In other words, the more people who learn the Shocking Breathing Technique, the better. Ideally, they should all advance to become martial artists, or even higher levels. This will increase his system privileges and make him stronger.

Previously, he lacked the strength and worried that the person he was teaching would cause various unsolvable problems, which would ultimately harm him.

But now he is comparable to a true high-level martial artist, and more and more martial artists are emerging among the players. There are not many people and forces in the City of Light that he can fear anymore, so he can go all out.

“Master, if we recruit people like this, then the martial arts resources we have will be far from enough,” Meng Wei said with some concern. “Moreover, if we recruit people like this, the four major powers will definitely not allow us to grow stronger. If they send a large number of quasi-martial artists equipped with B2-level or higher armor to cause trouble, we will have little power to fight back.”

"Do the four major powers have a lot of B2-level or higher battle armor?" Lin Qi asked curiously.

Armor of grade B or higher is a controlled item in major cities. Even top-tier potential geniuses who join the Martial Arts Association can only exchange for one set of grade B2 armor, which costs as much as 80 million bits. Martial artists who are qualified to buy it can only sell one set if they want to.

It's hard to imagine how many sets of power could exist in a suburban area, let alone a large number of them.

“A lot.” Meng Wei nodded and said seriously, “Just today, any one of the four major forces had more than ten near-martial arts masters equipped with armor of B2 grade or higher. Otherwise, our martial arts school disciples wouldn’t have suffered such heavy losses.”

"How can there be so many of them?" Lin Qi was also shocked when he heard this.

In his opinion, these major powers in the suburbs would be lucky to have even a few sets of these armors. First of all, they are not cheap, and secondly, there is nowhere to buy them, especially B2-level or higher armors.

These days, any one of the four major factions can produce more than ten sets of armor of B2 grade or higher, which is simply a joke.

A B2-level battle armor can increase strength by 1000 kilograms. If a near-limit martial artist wears it, they will become a near-limit beginner martial artist. As for the B3-level battle armor, it is even more terrifying, increasing strength by a full 1600 kilograms. If a near-limit martial artist wears it, they can fight against a mid-level martial artist.

“Master, you may not have owned territory in the suburbs before, or become a force in the suburbs, so you may not know that, in fact, any force in the suburbs, as long as it has energy ore or energy crystals and a qualification, can easily purchase armor of B2 grade or higher,” Meng Wei explained. “It’s just that this purchase qualification is not easy to obtain.”

"Purchase qualification? How do I get this qualification?" Lin Qi asked in surprise.

If he could really buy energy ore or energy crystals at will, it would be much easier for him to quickly arm a team to defend Ironheart Gang's territory and Crimson Moon Mountain.

In particular, if he could obtain a battle suit of B3 grade or higher, his combat power would be greatly enhanced.

"This purchase qualification requires a force with sufficient strength," Meng Wei explained. "Although major cities restrict B-grade battle armor, there's a merchant guild called Red Moon that has been secretly selling it. This Red Moon Merchant Guild is very mysterious; I don't know why the higher-ups in major cities know about it but never prohibit it."

"The trading rules of this Red Moon Merchant Guild are also very strange. When they sell B-grade battle armor, it is not enough to just have energy ore or energy crystals. They also need to consider the strength ranking of a force. The higher the ranking, the more B-grade battle armors can be purchased, and the higher the level of the armor."

"The top 100 forces are eligible to purchase one B5-level armor and ten B4-level or lower armor sets every month. The top 200 forces are eligible to purchase one B4-level armor and ten B3-level or lower armor sets every month. The top 300 forces can purchase one B3-level armor and five B2-level or lower armor sets every month. The top 500 forces can purchase one B1-level armor every month. Forces below the top 500 are not eligible to purchase any armor."

"A ranking of the strength of a faction? How is this ranked? Is it determined by the Martial Arts Association?" Lin Qi couldn't help but wonder.

It's actually very difficult to categorize the strength of a faction. Even the ranking of wild gangs by the Martial Arts Association is a very vague ranking. Without actually fighting each other, no one knows who is stronger.

There are countless major forces within the city. The difference between having one more or one less B2-level armor would accumulate to a significant amount each month. It's easy for others to make their own judgments, but probably few forces would be willing to accept that.

"The ranking of this force's strength wasn't determined by anyone; it was entirely earned through battles," Meng Wei said.

"Fighted out of nowhere?" Lin Qi was shocked. "But I haven't heard of any factions fighting about this in the city."

"This battle is not a full-scale war between the forces within the city. In fact, none of the forces on that ranking even know who is who," Meng Wei explained. "The Red Moon Merchant Guild sets up this ranking of forces by holding individual competitions within the Red Moon Merchant Guild. Each major force in the city only needs to send ten people, one for the competition at the Martial Artist level and the other for the competition at the level below Martial Artist. All ten people can be Martial Artists or all of them can be below Martial Artists."

"Only ten people need to participate in this competition. Life and death are irrelevant. The higher the individual's overall ranking, the more points they will receive. Martial artists will receive twice the ranking points. The final ranking will be based on the total points."

"Although our Iron Heart Gang had two martial artists before, our rankings were not very good. In the end, we only barely made it into the top 500. So, after so many years of development, our Iron Heart Gang does not have a single B2-level battle armor."

As Meng Wei spoke, he also felt quite helpless and ashamed. Despite having two martial artists from one gang, their final total score was even higher than many forces that didn't even have any martial artists. They were practically becoming a laughing stock in the City of Light.

"Ten people?" Lin Qi immediately became interested upon hearing this. "How do we participate in this power ranking?"

(End of this chapter)