I've already reached the maximum level, and you guys are just starting out?

Chapter 176 Expelled from Human Status? Coincidentally, I'm not 'human'!
Venus, the northern mountain range of Maxwell.

The entire Beta team was on high alert, their expressions solemn.

Before their eyes.

On the ground, thousands of black mechanical beetles were making strange 'squeak' noises.

Beneath the beetle, corpses, gnawed beyond recognition, lay scattered haphazardly.

"That, that's..."

"The corpse of the fallen?"

As the members of Beta's team approached, their eyes widened in surprise.

Can……

Wisps of black mist were faintly emanating from the mechanical beetle.

They appear to be even more depraved than the fallen.

"Could it be infighting within the Fallen Ones' ranks, with them killing each other?"

Within Beta's team, some made bold guesses.

just.

Despite their speculations, upon arriving at this location, they did not immediately flee but instead gritted their teeth and continued their journey toward the energy hub not far away.

Because they discovered...

Although these tens of thousands of mechanical beetles exuded a terrifying aura, they did not launch an attack on them.

"Eh?"

"Someone!"

"There are people near the energy hub!"

Suddenly, a team member let out a low, hoarse cry.

This sound drew the attention of over three hundred human unlockers.

I saw——

In front of the blue and white energy beam, a young man stood with his arms crossed, quietly looking at them.

squeak--

Zhizhi——!
That's this moment.

The mechanical beetles, which had been engrossed in devouring the corpses of the fallen, now emitted a series of strange, synchronized cries.

Whizzing--!
Tens of thousands of beetles flapped their wings and flew with a whooshing sound to the top of the young man's head.

From a distance, they looked like a thick, dark cloud, making the hearts of the Beta team members pound wildly.

"Gulu——!"

Beta Anthony, the captain of Beta Squad, swallowed hard.

Despite being the strongest member of the squad, a second-tier max-level unlocker, he felt an unparalleled sense of oppression emanating from that young man.

seem……

He could easily crush himself with just a single thought!

At this moment, all members of Beta's team stopped in their tracks.

Their intuition told them that if they got even a little closer, they would…

The atmosphere in Beta Squad was quiet and oppressive at this moment.

Can be biased.

A slightly hesitant yet delighted shout suddenly rang out.

"Yu, the master of Ember?!"

The one who spoke was Aaron Ferguson, who was at the very back of the squad and was now one of the ordinary members.

Aaron stared blankly at the young man's appearance.

Isn't that the Ember Master he's been thinking about every day lately?
"Ok?"

In front of the energy beam, Ember heard the shout and raised an eyebrow in surprise.

He looked toward the back of the Beta squad and saw Aaron Ferguson staring blankly at him.

"Captain Aaron?"

Yu Jin was somewhat surprised and blurted out the answer instinctively.

This statement came out.

Aaron's face instantly flushed red with excitement.

The captain and other members of Beta Squad were all stunned.

"ember?"

The team members looked at each other, feeling that the name sounded very familiar.

"Eh?!"

After a moment of stunned silence.

The members of Beta Squad belatedly realized what was happening.

"ember?"

"Miss Athena is offering a reward of millions of Source Points to find the Ember!?"

For a while.

The Beta team erupted in cheers.

On one hand, they confirmed that the young man before them belonged to the human camp, rather than a powerful fallen one.

on the other hand.

The person for whom the bounty of millions of Source Points was placed was standing right in front of him!
Who can bear this?

"Ten million Source Points...a bounty?"

Upon hearing these two sentences, Yu Jin frowned slightly.

Before he logged off Mars Online last time, he heard Athena's flirtatious remark.

At the time, Yu Jin thought the other person wanted to be friends with him.

But what does it look like now?
Ember seemed to underestimate Athena's regard for him and her determination to "get to know" her.

"It's not a big problem."

"My buddy hasn't even ascended to a higher dimension, so there's no point in her offering a bounty in the sky."

As Yu Jin shook his head and chuckled, he moved and appeared in front of the Beta team.

More precisely, he appeared opposite Aaron Ferguson.

Ember was still grateful to the kind older brother who had taken care of him in Mars Online and introduced him to many rules and information.

Last time I logged off in such a rush, I didn't even have a chance to say anything.

Now that we've met again, it makes up for the regret.

hum-

Yu Jin raised his hand and waved.

A geometrically irregular, translucent stone appeared from the void and floated in front of Aaron.

"This this……"

"A fourth-order limit-breaking stone?"

"I can't do it, I can't do it!"

Aaron recognized the stone at a glance and immediately became anxious.

He quickly explained to Ember that he had received extra compensation from Miss Athena.

and.

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, Aaron revealed everything about Athena's search for the Embers throughout the Ophelia Federation.

Simultaneously.

He even went so far as to offer a reminder:

"The leader of the human faction in Wasteland Online this time is Guy Nash, the son of the Nash family!"

"The Nash family wields considerable power in the Ophelia Federation, controlling the federal civil affairs departments!"

"Moreover, according to rumors circulating in the streets..."

"Guy Nash has always been one of Miss Athena's most devoted suitors!"

"The news of Miss Athena's recent search for you has spread throughout the entire Federation and is currently the Federation's top news..."

"So, Ember, you really need to be careful of Guy Nash!"

"If he finds out that you also logged into this server, he might target you."

"Despite your immense strength, Guy Nash is the leader of the human faction in this battle, and faction leaders have higher game privileges than ordinary players!"

"I heard that one of the permissions is that the leader can expel other players from the community and banish them!"

"..."

Despite the presence of the remaining three hundred-plus members of Beta Squad.

But my good brother Ah Long still speaks his mind without reservation.

The captain of Beta Squad was dumbfounded.

no……

Are you betraying Guy Nash?
right?

That's a blatant betrayal!
The rest of Beta's team also had strange expressions on their faces.

What Aaron said...

If Lord Guy finds out, not to mention Ember, the first one to be expelled from humanity and banished would probably be Aaron himself.
After listening to Aaron's story, Yu Jin raised an eyebrow slightly.

Guy Nash?

Athena's suitor?
Is it very likely that they will target and make things difficult for me?

"This scene..."

"It's so old-fashioned and cliché."

Yu Jin shook his head, not taking Guy Nash seriously.

Issuing citizenship or something like that sounds pretty scary.

But as fate would have it...

On this planet Venus, what Ember fears least is actually being 'removed from human form'.

It's not that 'he's not human,' but rather that the moment he logged into Venus Online, he landed on his own planet. He now belongs neither to the human camp nor to the fallen.

Ember himself is a faction!
[You have logged into the Wasteland Online K-2 planet server!]

[Detection has revealed that you have acquired ownership of Planet K-2...]

[You have triggered a hidden rule in Wasteland Online!]

You have become the leader of the third faction!

[The Third Faction: The Independents!]

[Faction Objective: Capture as many Energy Hubs as possible and receive generous rewards from Wasteland Online based on the number of Energy Hubs captured at the final settlement!]

Last time in Mars Online, Ember wondered when he could become a 'faction leader' instead of working for other human leaders.

now?

But it was a natural progression.

Besides.

Since planet K-2, also known as Venus, already belonged to the Embers.

Therefore, he also has far more privileges than other players in Venus Online, including the leaders of both factions.

For example--

He can not only know the spawn location of the energy hub immediately, but also has full map vision and full map teleportation.

Truly, you can go wherever you want!
Furthermore——

As the owner of the planet, Wasteland Online grants him an additional 1% of the unlock value.

Is this reasonable?

This makes perfect sense!

Without special privileges, would one still be considered the ruler of a planet?
all in all.

If the previous Mars Online was a speed-up version, then this Venus Online can definitely be called a hacked version.

Guy Nash?

Yu Jin didn't care whose son he was.

If it weren't for the faction leader's death causing the Venus Online event to end prematurely, he could have appeared in front of that young master with a single thought and slapped him to death.

Think about this.

Ember looked at Aaron, whose face was full of worry.

Not for himself, but for the embers.

"What a great older brother!"

While expressing his heartfelt gratitude, Yu Jin also gave Aron a fourth-tier unlocking stone.

Actually, for Aaron, the most suitable thing right now is the Tier 3 Unlimited Stone.

but……

There was no ember.

Of his thousands of limit-breaking stones, the lowest grade was fourth-tier.

Before Mars Online went offline, he killed tens of thousands of Fallen Ones. Although he didn't get any Source Points as a reward, he still got tens of thousands of Unlimited Stones.

Most of them are fourth-order, and a small number are fifth-order.

For Ember, the Limit Break Stones are truly inexhaustible, and they can only be left to gather dust.

"This this……"

Aaron stared at the two fourth-tier limit-breaking stones in front of him, frozen in place, unable to utter a single word.

Yu Jin smiled and patted his shoulder, then glanced at the rest of the Beta team, especially the second-tier max-level Beta captain.

The latter felt uneasy under Yu Jin's gaze and didn't dare to breathe.

The rest of the team members trembled under that gaze.

The meaning of "Embers" is quite clear—

These two stones, symbolizing liberation, were a gift from him to his elder brother.

As for the rest of the petty thieves, it's best not to have any other thoughts or ideas.

otherwise……

squeak--!
Zhizhi——!
Not far away, thousands upon thousands of mechanical beetles flew over in a massive, overwhelming swarm.

"Okay, that's it."

"I'm leaving now. See you again sometime, Captain Aaron."

Ember looked at Aaron again, whose mind was still blank and frozen.

until...

The figure of Ember, along with the mechanical swarm, had already disappeared on the horizon before Aaron finally came to his senses.

"Yu, the great Yu Jin!"

"Woooo..."

Aaron Ferguson, a tough guy throughout his life, had red eyes and burst into tears.

These two Tier 4 Limit-Unlocking Stones are such a wonderful gift!

Aaron couldn't earn that much even after working for over ten years...

……

……

Venus.

Gnaville Plain.

The human faction's central camp is located here.

In the small palace at the center of the camp.

A blond-haired youth stared at the light screen in front of him, furious.

"waste!"

"A bunch of trash!"

"We can't take Hub 01, and we can't take Hub 02 either!"

"What use are you to me!"

The blond youth is none other than Guy Nash, the leader of the human faction in Venus Online.

Unlike Athena, who initially joined Wasteland Online to prove herself.

Guy, a privileged second-generation rich kid, actually had absolutely no interest in Wasteland Online.

His landing was solely because of Athena.

On the one hand, Athena's brilliant achievements in Venus Online have further enhanced her reputation within the Federation.

on the other hand.

Guy's father, the head of the Nash family and the Minister of Public Welfare of Ophelia, also assigned Guy the task of logging into Wasteland Online and achieving outstanding results because of Athena's matter.

In fact.

Not only the Nash family, but many other powerful families in Ophelia have begun to require their second-generation descendants to log in to Wasteland Online in order to gain fame.

In the current Ophelia Federation, reputation plays a very important role.

The reasons behind this are not known to the general public, but are almost universally known to the high-ranking officials and dignitaries.

"Lord Guy, please calm down..."

Inside the small palace, one of Guy's personal guard captains spoke cautiously.

Bang-!
The captain of the personal guard was sent flying backwards.

"You're a piece of trash too!"

Guy cursed angrily.

After this.

Time passes slowly.

Guy watched as one bright spot after another appeared on the light screen, only to fade away just as quickly.

this means……

The human faction failed to gain control of the energy hub.

And now?
Ten energy hubs have already appeared, but Guy hasn't managed to occupy even one yet!
"Trash, trash!"

Guy cursed angrily.

He dispatched all of his personal guards, who had been stationed around the camp, to the other newly spawned energy hubs.

but……

It's of no use.

Under Guy's disillusioned gaze.

All 19 energy hubs were now dark!

0: 19!

Guy felt a burning pain on his face.

Even though he usually relies on his family's power and doesn't care much about improving his limits, but...

If a score of 0:19 were to reach the Ophelia Federation, Guy's reputation would be completely ruined!

His dear old father would beat him half to death!
"The last one!"

Guy's gaze was fixed on the new light spots that were refreshing on the screen.

Like Mars Online, Venus Online has exactly 20 energy hubs.

"Pass on my order—"

"Army attack!"

At this moment, Guy must fight to the death.

If he ends up with a score of 0:20 during the hub battle phase, he won't even have a chance to start the war phase and will be eliminated directly!
thump—

boom-boom—!
The central camp, and other human squads scattered throughout Venus.

At the same moment, they all received Guy's order and headed towards the final energy hub refresh location.

Guy was unaware of this until this moment.

When energy hubs are occupied by the 'Fallen Ones,' yet I haven't received any communication reports from my squads, how abnormal and illogical is that...?

(End of this chapter)