"Holy crap! The recruitment fee for this Dragon Knight is thirty-one thousand gold coins?!"
"Holy crap, even the lowest-tier Dragon Guard costs ten thousand gold coins?"
Suddenly, a series of gasps erupted from the crowd at the front of the queue. Forget thirty-one thousand gold coins, even ten thousand would require many players to grind monsters day and night to earn.
"I say, you lot, it's just ten thousand gold coins. You used to work yourselves to death to save up for houses and cars, even sacrificing thirty years of your youth. Now you're looking at this ten thousand gold coin free labor and still complaining it's too expensive? I'm not trying to be condescending, but I really can't stand it!" At this moment, a bald man with a ridiculously large gold chain, standing in the second row, sneered. Da Feng Novel Network.
"Brother Xiong is right. Your worldview is too narrow. Look at our Brother Xiong. Follow him and you'll witness his grandeur!" the lackeys behind the bald man immediately chimed in.
"Holy crap, brother, you make a lot of sense. I earn two thousand a month and I can't even refute that! Which part of town are you from, brother?" A player in the first row turned to look at Brother Xiong, nodded in agreement, and said.
"No problem, no problem. Little brother is from Zhà Tiān Starfield, Zhà Tiān Planet, Zhà Tiān Commandery, Zhà Tiān Liú Máng Town. If you ever have time to visit, I'll treat you to some exotic local customs." Brother Xiong grinned, revealing a mouth full of yellow teeth.
"Alright, I'll take your word for it. I was planning to save up a hundred thousand gold coins for an attribute point, but now I'm all in. I'm buying a Tiger Rider!" Upon hearing Brother Xiong's words, the player turned around with renewed vigor, directly clicked on the recruitment hall option, and purchased a Tiger Rider without a second thought.
"Wait, brother, why would a Warrior recruit a Tiger Rider? Are you planning to ride together to save travel time?" This time, Brother Xiong was bewildered. Shouldn't a Warrior recruit a ranged attacker or a healer?
"As expected of Brother Xiong, you can even guess that." The player nodded at Brother Xiong, looking at his sturdy muscles, even showing a hint of... shyness.
I...
Brother Xiong suddenly felt a tightness in his throat, as if he had something stuck. The lackeys who were initially cheering also seemed to notice something and uniformly lowered their heads, maintaining silence.
Roar...
The twenty-odd seconds passed quickly. A three-meter-long black tiger emerged from the recruitment hall. On its back sat a burly man, holding a massive battle axe in one hand. His tightly strung muscles were hidden by armor, and his tiger-like eyes coldly swept across the surrounding players before he moved his mount forward and arrived in front of the player who had spent seventy thousand gold coins to recruit him.
"Your subordinate greets Master. Please bestow a name upon me!"
...
Seeing the majestic Tiger Rider, the players who were still hesitating around them immediately showed envious expressions, followed by gritted teeth as they began spending the gold coins they had saved up over days of not eating or drinking to recruit their preferred unit.
Brother Xiong was right. It was just a few tens of thousands of gold coins. At worst, they could work diligently for a year or so, which was far better than being a slave to a mortgage or a car loan. Moreover, with the advancement of virtual reality technology, players' lifespans had generally increased significantly, and these guards would accompany them for life! In this regard, it was far beyond what cars and houses could offer.
Most importantly, having a guard would free up their hands, greatly accelerating their progress in the game. In fact, within a short period, they could earn back the cost of these tens of thousands of gold coins for their guards.
"Hey, brother, how is it? Is the attribute awesome?"
This Tiger Rider was the first one recruited by a regular player, immediately attracting the attention of all the players.
"Whether it's awesome or not, I don't know. The initial attribute is only 260 points." After naming the Tiger Rider, the player, indulging his vanity, smiled. But only he knew how bitter it was, even more bitter than bitter melon.
Who knew that the upgrade path for this guard wasn't through fighting monsters but required spending ten thousand gold coins in the recruitment hall to upgrade to level two? If it were just that, he could tolerate it, but why did it also cost seventy thousand gold coins for the recruitment hall usage fee?
The player looked at the few hundred gold coins remaining in his inventory and turned to leave with the Tiger Rider.
Meanwhile...
"Holy crap! Holy crap! A beauty! A smoking hot beauty!" A shocked cry instantly ignited the entire venue!
A female warrior, clad in fiery red leather armor, slowly walked out of the recruitment hall. Her flowing long hair and exposed slender legs immediately attracted tens of thousands of heated gazes.
In her left hand, she held her helmet, her long, unadorned hair blowing freely in the wind. A greatsword on her back made her look exceptionally heroic.
"Everyone, everyone, my apologies. This is a recruited Dragon Guard, by the way. And for all you wolf-eyed fellows, you can actually choose the gender of the units here. As men, as the head of a household, how can we let our great female compatriots steal the show? Also, each player can recruit one thousand guards. As a law-abiding citizen of Fengle City, I can recruit two thousand guards, but alas, I'm short on cash. Haha, Little Mei, let's go." The player who recruited her laughed heartily.
Although the cultivation of this Dragon Guard was a bottomless pit, it was still better than his old lady at home who constantly demanded gifts and didn't do any work.
He just wondered if she would keep him warm at night.
The player walked away, but this angered the female players who had been drawn to the muscular guards on the entire square.
"So cool! So cool! Just as cool as my sister!" Brother Xiong felt like he had been struck by lightning, his scalp tingling.
"Boss, this girl is indeed good, but aren't you worried that the young master from earlier will come to find you in the real world? Why do I feel like he gave you a meaningful look when he left?"
"Get lost!" Brother Xiong could no longer hear anything; his soul had followed the female Dragon Guard.
"Brother, it's your turn." The lackey immediately adopted a fawning demeanor. Well, he had to be low-key in front of the boss, otherwise, wouldn't he not get paid?
"My turn? Holy crap, this time I'm definitely recruiting sixteen young ladies, one of each unit type!!" Brother Xiong patted his large belly with both hands, and then wiped his armor.
Indeed, the wealthy were so extravagant!
However...
More than ten minutes later, Brother Xiong was dumbfounded. He looked at the sixteen female guards of various appearances around him and couldn't laugh anymore.
What a rip-off! Upgrading them by one level was more expensive than recruiting a guard! He had finally managed to go from "Brother Xiong" to "Brother Xiong" in the game, but now, he was lucky if he wasn't called "Big Head."