Chapter 404 – New List

Silver Frost City, Green God Corporation’s branch headquarters:

Next to the bustling street, a group of young male and female teenagers were gathered outside the Green God Corporation’s entrance.

“Amazing! So, this is the Greater World?”

“Isn’t this a little too insane? Mental strength masters that are incredibly rare in our world are everywhere here!”

“I know, right? Even in the Upper Zone I stayed in, mental strength masters were regarded as extraordinary individuals. But here, any random 16-year-old could be a mental strength master. This is simply absurd.”

The group of teenagers looked at their surroundings in curiosity. Their gazes were filled with awe even when they looked at the pedestrians walking on the sidewalk.

These teenagers were geniuses selected by the Green God Corporation from their homeworld to enter the Greater World. They were brimming with confidence when they were initially chosen. However, after arriving in the Greater World, their confidence instantly plummeted as they realized that their talent in mental strength was nothing compared to the Greater World’s inhabitants.

Meanwhile, in response to the teenagers’ awe-struck behavior, the pedestrians only glanced at them before going on their way. The teenagers’ behavior had long become a common sight to them.

It was common for corporations in the Greater World to select a group of talented young people from their respective homeworlds and bring these talents to the Greater World for training. It was so that these corporations could get more people into city legions.

Now that the selection for Silver Frost City’s city legion this year had already ended, the various corporations and powerful families would naturally start preparing for next year’s selection.

While the teenagers outside the Green God Corporation were waiting to enter the building, a woman in office wear walked past them and into the building. Upon seeing the beautiful woman in her mid-twenties, whether the security guards by the entrance or the middle-aged man leading the group of talented teenagers, all of them wore respectful looks as they watched her walk by.

“Who is this person, Instructor? She doesn’t look much older than us,” a young man whose mental strength had reached the one-star master standard asked the middle-aged man leading their group, unable to contain his surprise when he saw the middle-aged man’s reaction.

It should be known that the Chief Instructor leading them was a big shot in the Upper Zones. At the same time, he was a bona fide one-star mental strength grandmaster. So, the young man found it unbelievable that the Chief Instructor was behaving respectfully to someone who was not only younger but also wasn’t even a mental strength grandmaster.

“Shh! Keep your voice down! She is Lu Wen, Vice President Xia’s secretary! She is also your senior,” the middle-aged man said as he glared at the youth. “Two years ago, she was similarly selected by the corporation to enter the Greater World like you all. Currently, she is already a group leader in the Silver Frost Legion. If any of you can get into the Silver Frost Legion next year, you might even be able to join her battle group.”

The youths’ mouths widened when they heard their Chief Instructor’s words, their eyes filled with yearning and anticipation as they watched Lu Wen disappear into the building.

“A group leader in the Silver Frost Legion, is it?”

“I’m definitely getting into the Silver Frost Legion next year!”

The Greater World’s wonders had already let them realize how small and frail their homeworld was. Whether it was the average lifespan or technological standards in the Greater World, both were vastly superior to what was available in their homeworld. Moreover, it was only a matter of time before everyone from their homeworld would need to migrate to the Greater World. At that time, the vast majority of people could only live in the Greater World’s towns, and only a very small minority would get to live in the Greater World’s cities to enjoy a long life and youth.

If they wanted to be able to remain in the Greater World’s cities, their only options were to either become a mental strength grandmaster or a participant of a city legion. At that time, not only could they continue staying in a city, but they could also receive the Green God Corporation’s focus, becoming an existence even superpowers feared and respected.

…

Green God Corporation’s top-floor office…

When Lu Wen entered the office, she saw Xia Qingying in the middle of processing various documents and a woman quietly seated next to Xia Qingying.

The woman seated next to Xia Qingying had her face hidden by an electronic barrier. Even though Lu Wen couldn’t see the woman’s face, she felt an instinctive fear when she stood in the other party’s presence, even more so than when she stood facing a three-star mental strength grandmaster.

However, Lu Wen didn’t place too much attention to the woman. Instead, she walked up to Xia Qingying’s desk and dejectedly reported, “Vice President Xia, the selection in Silver Frost City went just as we expected. Only Jun Luosha was successful, while the others were eliminated…”

After a slight pause, Lu Wen indignantly continued, “The Board of Directors is simply abominable. Even though Silver Frost City is also a second-tier city, the resources they allocated to us for this year are only half of what they allocated to Wu Yao’s side. With this, we’re going to have an even more difficult time nurturing our newcomers.”

Hearing her trusted aide’s complaint, Xia Qingying put down the document in her hand and chuckled, saying, “It can’t be helped. Now that the Zero Wing I’ve supported has offended the Paimon Conglomerate, those old fellows will naturally support Wu Yao’s side.”

“How are you still in the mood to joke around, Vice President Xia?! If we can’t earn enough contributions for the corporation in Silver Frost City this year, our branch will be disqualified from the city!” Lu Wen anxiously said.

It wasn’t easy for a corporation to establish itself in the Greater World’s cities. It was especially so for cities in the second tier and above. A corporation would have to outcompete many other corporations before being qualified to establish a branch headquarters in a second-tier city and be given the right to send newcomers into the city for training over the long term. Moreover, even after securing a slot in a second-tier city, a corporation still had to fight to retain this slot every year.

If a corporation were to lose its slot, it would face significantly greater difficulty in recovering this slot in the future.

Although the number of third-tier cities in the Greater World was dozens of times greater than that of second-tier cities, the resources available in second-tier cities were vastly superior. Take the precious Stardew, for example. While it was an incomparably precious commodity that was only made available to city legion members in third-tier cities, it could occasionally be seen appearing in auctions hosted in second-tier cities.

Not to mention, second-tier cities had a far bigger and superior talent pool than third-tier cities, and having access to such a talent pool was incredibly beneficial to corporations.

If the branch headed by Xia Qingying were to lose its place in Silver Frost City this year, the difficulty of acquiring city contribution points for the branch would double in the coming year.

“I know that,” Xia Qingying said, chuckling. Then, she handed an electronic document to Lu Wen and continued, “Those old fellows might think I have lost big this time, but whether I will actually lose to Wu Yao remains to be seen.”

“This is…the Seven Luminaries Lists?” Lu Wen was a little puzzled by the electronic document.

The Seven Luminaries Lists were known throughout the Greater World, and they were a topic that people loved to talk about every day. However, the Seven Luminaries Lists had nothing to do with the various corporations. After all, the existences on those lists were akin to myths, and they stood far out of the reach of measly corporations.

“This is the latest edition published this morning,” Xia Qingying explained with a smile. “You’ll know what I’m talking about once you look through the Luminous Glory List.”

After Xia Qingying finished speaking, Lu Wen quickly browsed through the Luminous Glory List.

The Luminous Glory List recorded 1,000 players. It was by no means many, but if one carefully read through every bit of information provided by the list, it would take over a day of reading to look through everything. After all, the list contained detailed records of the 1,000 recorded players. Some entries even had battle videos attached. So, to avoid wasting time, Lu Wen only looked at the names on the list.

“This is…Asura Sword Emperor, Black Flame?”

When Lu Wen saw the new name that had taken the 963rd rank on the Luminous GLory List, she couldn’t help but rub her eyes, thinking she was hallucinating.

…

TL Notes:

[1]Changing “Jiang Yao(江耀)” in Chapter 276 to “Wu Yao(武耀)”:

I think the author misremembered Jiang Yao’s name and started to assume it as Wu Yao, so I’m just going to switch to Wu Yao.

Fyi, Jiang Yao/Wu Yao is another vice president of the Green God Corporation.