Closed Beta That Only I Played

Chapter 19: Terrific Move (3)

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Then I fired magic towards the stone golems.

“Ice Ball! Ice Bolt!”

Puk! Puk! Puk! Puk!

It was Level 1 skill at best and exercised 1,400 Willpower.

So there was almost no cooldown time, and I didn’t have to worry about the lack of mana because I could use it freely.

Since I have to learn these skills early on, normally their power is low. But whenever Ice Ball and Ice Bolt hit the stone golems, they left huge wounds.

The Ice Ball tore off the stones that made up the stone golems’ bodies, and the Ice Bolt also left large holes.

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

A series of messages announced that I had leveled up.

“...Is it supposed to be this easy?”

It was so easy to hunt because without moving at all from my spot, I just spammed skills to hunt the monsters. I didn’t even need to use the Ice Shield which was the only defense skill.

In particular, except for the 1st closed beta, I had to deal with the same level or a considerable number of monsters at once to achieve the maximum level.

So, I had to be apprehensive because my Physical Strength and Health were not high, and my Willpower and mana pool were lower than my Physical Strength and Health.

However, after a long time, I didn’t feel tense or nervous at all.

I laughed unconsciously because I always dreamed of hunting like this.

Of course, some people may say that this is boring because it doesn’t require any effort.

In games, challengers and adventurers can be resurrected no matter how often they perish, but I could not understand why they had to take such risks and adventures.

The character in the game is my alter ego, which is also a projection of me in the real world.

Of course, that doesn’t mean I won’t take on challenges and adventures forever.

I will as long as I receive appropriate compensation and rewards or if somebody blocks my way.

“Huhhhh.”

Laughing like that, I stepped forward to collect the miscellaneous items like the golden rings and manastones that the stone golems dropped because they were by-products that I acquired through my time and effort.

So, I put all of them in the inventory and took a lighter step than before.

“Good. Let me play the game seriously!”

***

Shanghai, China.

In a small meeting room in the 117-story Yanghwa Group’s headquarters, one of the top business groups in China, there was a meeting going on with the group’s top executives led by Chairman Jiang Chianglin.

Bang!

“Shit! I didn’t spend money to see you guys doing nothing like a retired old man in the back of the room!”

Briefed by the group’s Strategy Department, Chairman Jiang Chianglin hit the table with a fist, fuming with anger because he had gotten a series of problems in and out of the group these days.

Of course, the biggest problem was the crackdown by Xi Weiping, the President as well as the leader of the Crown Prince Party.

From Jian’s standpoint, President Xi’s crackdown in the name of rooting out anti-corruption really put his group in jeopardy.

The head of the Strategy Department, Guo Ching, opened his mouth with a faint voice, “Well, President Xi’s strongly driving the anti-corruption campaign targeting the whole Shanghai Clique.”

“Fuck! So you want to collapse like this? If you get paid, you have to stick your neck out to pressure them to move! Or you should lavish more money until they can’t breathe because of the money stuck in their throats!”

There were three major powers that made up the Chinese Communist Party: the Crown Prince Party, the Communist Youth League and the Shanghai Clique.

As a member of the Shanghai Clique, Jiang could rapidly expand his group under the protection of the giant power of the Shanghai Clique as one of the top business groups in China.

But his good luck didn’t last long because the Shanghai Clique which had been his strong protector. It was targeted by President Xi, the leader of the Crown Prince Party, who had built absolute power.

Besides, since Jiang Zemin, the head of the Shanghai Clique, lost his core position to President Xi, Yanghwa Group’s Jian virtually lost the last shield that could protect his group, which made him so nervous that he could hardly sleep at all these days.

Indeed, his accomplishments could disappear in an instant.

At that moment, Shu Lan, the only woman who attended the meeting and the group’s chief officer of external affairs, said, “Isn’t that what President Xi wants?”

“...”

“...”

When she said that, everybody was silent in the conference room.

But Jian’s angry voice broke the silence in no time.

“Xi Weiping! Greedy pig-like bastard! Why is he taking it out on me and going after my group when he lost our talent to the American bastards? Why is he targeting my group when he is not touching the Communist Youth League and other business conglomerates?”

There were suspicious activities from the U.S. government and America’s leading companies. Besides, the unusual movement was from the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agents and the scouting of talent by giant US companies’ operating in China.

At first they didn’t understand it because their suspicious movements were not aimed at military secrets or exceptional scientists or technicians specially managed by the Chinese government and corporations.

That was why they belatedly noticed Revival Legend.

“Isn’t it because we have the most talent in China while keeping it a secret from President Xi?”

“Fuck! Then do you think I should have informed him about the information that I dug up with all my time and efforts?”

Jiang Chianglin asked back sharply at her explanation.

But she opened his mouth, staring straight at him without avoiding his angry eyes.

As always, she spoke gently, “No, what I mean is you didn’t make a mistake because you didn’t tell him, but because you were caught by him. President Xi believes that he is really China’s emperor now.”

“...”

At that moment, Jiang stopped being angry, unable to respond properly.

In the end, he murmured, “Fuck! It sucks!”

Then there was silence again in the conference room.

Ten minutes later, the top executives led by Chairman Jiang made the decision.

Anyway, it was a losing game from the beginning.

“How many max-level users with max traits have we scouted until now?”

“There are 855 people who achieved the max level in the first closed beta and 46 in the second closed beta. We concluded that there was no max level achiever in the third closed beta.”

“Fuck! Damn American bastards! Why are they running around here to scout talent?”

Jiang hurled abuses at the United States when briefed about the talent scouting status.

Ever since he first caught wind of US efforts to scout game talent in China, he started to acquire talent in his own country faster than anyone else.

So, he came to realize that lots of the max level achievers in the first and second closed betas already got scouted by the United States after their persistent efforts to cajole them.

That’s why he had no choice but to swear abusively, fuming.

After thinking for a moment, he frowned, “50%. Send 50% of our talent to President Xi. I can’t approve more than that.”

“Yes, sir.”

The top executives of the group were exhausted by President Xi’s pressure and crackdown, so they didn’t refute Chairman Jiang’s instruction. In their opinion, he could get out of the current trouble by donating that much.

A depressing atmosphere dominated the conference room.

“And listen carefully!”

As if to dismiss that atmosphere, Chairman Jiang opened his mouth with a voice full of dignity, not with an angry tone like before, “Although I am donating half of the power I have built up until now, this is not the end. Only the traits that they obtained by achieving the max level in the first and second betas are not all we have. We just got the chance to get a few steps ahead of others! If we can’t beat them by quality, we can win by quantity. How many users are we taking care of now?”