Chapter 52: The King of Xia!

Claude's smile faded slightly. He put down what he was holding and stroked his exquisitely trimmed white beard.
"Xia... is very mysterious, and such people will not join a guild. For them, a guild feels more like a constraint than a boost!"
Claude twirled the large gem ring on his finger and said pointedly:
"Lone wolves—lone wolves in the Hall are rare, extremely rare. Do you know why?"
Black-Ape shook his head noncommittally. He had a brain, but generally speaking, he preferred not to use it.
"Because not everyone is qualified to be a lone wolf. It requires strength, versatility, resilience, and so much more...
More importantly, there is the solitude of walking alone along this long road, something you cannot possibly imagine.
Treading through countless worlds yet acting merely like a passerby, immensely powerful yet utterly alone.
That spiritual desolation has crushed countless powerhouses in the past."
Claude smiled. "That's why the vast majority of people cannot be lone wolves; they die far too quickly."
Black-Ape was silent for a moment and nodded.
"So, you want to recruit him, but Xia would certainly look down on it, which is why you came to me instead?"
He had a brain, but generally speaking, he preferred not to use it—except that this was not a general situation.
Claude's smile paused, and he suddenly broke into a cough.
Obviously, he had guessed right.
Black-Ape chuckled. "I have one more question. What is a draft pick?"
"A draft pick?" Claude was dumbfounded. "You actually remember that?"
He sat up straight, clasped his hands together, and said calmly, "Every successful guild has an extremely sophisticated tiered structure and a fresh-blood cultivation pipeline.
While we cannot provide low-tier apostles with high-level equipment, that doesn't mean we cannot help junior members grow rapidly.
Whether it is intelligence, the breadth of the equipment pool, or even resources, a guild can offer you a great deal.
A continuous stream of fresh blood is exceptionally important to every guild, which is why the Hall grants us special privileges.
Through agreed-upon duels, we determine the winner, who then earns the right to have first pick of that batch.
And we can rely on what the Hall provides to review each apostle's evaluation from their previous trial, along with the potential star rating assigned by the Hall.
It's just like a draft."
Claude said with pride, "The Brotherhood of Steel is precisely the victor of this guild war, and we possess the priority selection right!"
Black-Ape was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, "You're not Tier 1!"
"Oh? You noticed?" Claude shook his head, clearly having no intention of hiding it. "Yes, I won't go into the specifics with you, but the restrictions are immense.
For instance, my strength is sealed, and I am unable to launch attacks against anyone. My mission is forcibly downgraded to the lowest evaluation, and I cannot use items above the Green grade..."
Simply put, I have only one mission: to observe, to observe you all, to observe the rookies with high potential evaluations."
"What is my potential evaluation?"
"Hmm... That's a very complex assessment, but if I were to simplify it... A-."
"A- sounds pretty good... What about Xia?"
Claude fell silent, and to his surprise, Black-Ape caught a glimpse of immensely complex emotions flickering across the seemingly indifferent old man's face.
Awe, disbelief, worry, jealousy, resentment... and resignation.
"LV MAX....... Also known as... The Proxy Tier!"
"I'll join you."
.............
When the first ray of sunlight pierced through the darkness, the birds startled away by Smaug flew back to the Lonely Mountain in flocks.
Jackdaws carried the news of the Arch-Tyrant's death in all directions, and everyone was drawn by the endless wealth of the Lonely Mountain.
Just as people were sharpening their weapons, gathering troops, and preparing to come and take a cut, Li Xia opened his eyes.
His six followers stood guard over him dutifully. Numbers 1 and 2 spotted Li Xia and greeted him with a "Hehehe."
First, he stood and practiced his stance for a while. Once his entire body felt warm and his fatigue had been swept away entirely, Li Xia prepared to return to Lake-town.
On the way back, he took a moment to check the chat platform, and his gaze was quickly drawn to messages from the Knight and the Madwoman.
Trial worlds lacked a private messaging function, so they could only repeat themselves at regular intervals in the hope that Li Xia would see them.
Did the Destiny Chest seem that important? So important that even two prospective members who were virtually unlikely to ever encounter a Destiny Chest were briefed on its significance?
Li Xia pondered for a moment and finally decided to post his reply in the chat channel:
Xia [Dragon Slayer · Human Faction Leader]: "What is a Destiny Chest?"
Only after posting did he realize that two extra suffixes had miraculously appeared behind his name: the Dragon Slayer title gleamed in a bloody crimson, while the Human Faction Leader title emitted a faint golden glow.
It was... rather good-looking.
As expected, as soon as these two eye-catching identifiers were hung up, they immediately caused an uproar on the communication platform.
What does this mean? We're still down in the dirt working our fingers to the bone for other factions, and you've already managed to become a faction boss???
Li Xia frowned and watched the scrolling prompts for a bit. There was flattery, jealousy, and passive-aggressiveness, so he simply muted the chat.
He left only the messages from the Knight and the Madwoman visible.
Madwoman (Nightingale Sisterhood Prospective Member): Oh, sis doesn't know, but the guild gave instructions that if we encounter a Destiny Chest, we must try our best to contact the other party to buy it, and there will be a commission, you know.
Knight (Sword of Judgment Prospective Member): Brother Xia, I don't know the specifics either, and this isn't a really convenient place to talk. If you're interested, let's talk more when we return to the Hall, shall we?
It seemed these two knew as much as he did—which was limited. But how did they know he might turn up a Destiny Chest?
Xia [Dragon Slayer · Human Faction Leader]: "We'll see."
With that, he closed the chat platform. Lake-town was already close at hand.
This once-prosperous town had turned into a expanse of broken walls and ruins.
More than half of the wooden foundations underlying the entire town had collapsed.
Consequently, the entirety of Lake-town seemed to have caved in and slid downward.
Corpses floated everywhere across the water surface, and desperate weeping and wailing drifted into his ears in snatches carried by the wind.
There were also people poking around in the water with long bamboo poles, trying to find survivors.
Judging by the expressions on their faces, the harvest was likely zero.
The raging fire ignited by Smaug had mostly extinguished, leaving only burned-out wreckage still belching black smoke.
A small wooden boat gradually sailed into Lake-town, and those who caught sight of him froze in their tracks.
More and more people dropped what they were doing and gazed at Li Xia standing at the bow of the boat.
Gradually, a buzzing murmur like a swarm of bees erupted among the crowd, which quickly swelled into a steady drone.
People looked at him, their eyes seemingly carrying a certain inexplicable light.
Everyone recognized him. Ever since the day he joined the Lake-town guard, this man had been constantly running himself ragged for the town.
He had captured fierce criminals, cleaned out murderous water bandits, and wiped out man-eating beasts.
And it was he who, under everyone's watchful eyes, charged at the dragon and brought an end to the life of that monstrous beast.
Reputation was never a cold, system-generated mission reward; it was the heartfelt gratitude born in the eyes of Lake-town residents every time he completed a task.
Someone in the crowd shouted the first call, and an instant later, it erupted into a deafening roar.
"Dragon Slayer! King Xia!"
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1. Monthly Ticket 2. Recommended Ticket
I only reached my destination at 10 o'clock, wrote a bit on the high-speed rail, so it's a bit late, please forgive me everyone.
If you have tickets, I beg for monthly tickets.