Chapter 323: The Professional League Is About to Begin
Business was booming beyond anything Zhou Ning had expected—sales were over 40% higher than his previous peak, and the results were phenomenal. The area around him was packed tight as sardines, completely surrounded by crowds.
Players were squeezing in wherever they could to set up makeshift stalls, selling off traded weapons and spots at the front of teams. The entire street was jammed, shoulder to shoulder, a sea of people.
Many of them weren't even from Bryston—most were from neighboring countries like the Kingdom of Ruins and the Kingdom of Sepharic, speaking awkward, machine-translated Brystonese. These players were mostly low-level; with the current average level being 25, most of them were around level 20—newcomers from the third wave of open beta accounts.
Of course, there were also plenty of high-level players. Anyone with half a brain could tell that most of them were drawn in by the new expansion, version 1.1—Cataclysm of Darkland. Coming to him for a class change or to learn new skills was just a secondary goal.
After all, a true hardcore player would never allow themselves to miss any major in-game content.
As a merchant, Zhou Ning's favorite customers were exactly these two kinds of players—the ones who needed everything, and the ones who had money and weren't afraid to spend it. They always brought him generous profits.
Within just two hours, his stock plummeted. He'd created more than a dozen vampire players, and even sold three Devil Fruits. The number of rich players just kept rising.
One of the fruits was bought by the pro player "A Wave of Heat" from the Elegy Club. With the league about to open, everyone knew how dramatically the Devil Fruits could enhance a player's power. To achieve better results, the major clubs were willing to bleed money.
This particular Devil Fruit turned out to be a rare Bird-Bird Fruit—the same type once eaten by a member of the "Courage" Molten family in the simulation world. "A Wave of Heat" successfully transformed into a birdman, gaining flight ability, which instantly caused a stir.
A Gunslinger who could fly? How were you supposed to fight that—what, wait for the flying dragon to land?
Players at the scene were green with envy; even Zhou Ning couldn't help glancing at him twice. He knew this player from his previous life—strong, though with rather ordinary talent. Elegy Club had always ranked mid-tier, but now that "A Wave of Heat" had the Bird-Bird Fruit, it was only natural that he'd become a top favorite for the upcoming Professional League.
The second Devil Fruit buyer was the pro player Super Blue Cat from the Candy Ultra-Sweet Club. That club actually consisted of four top-tier players: Sugar Mountain Bro, Fruit Master, Super Blue Cat, and Dessert Master. Despite the boy-band-sounding name, the four were, in reality, full-grown, unshaven men.
Like Moon Star from the Stellar Club, Super Blue Cat didn't use the Devil Fruit right away either—he planned to save it for the league as a secret weapon.
The third Devil Fruit buyer was Zhou Ning's old acquaintance—the well-known female fan Vayne Sturwell. She was a young woman with wavy hair and a delicate face, which didn't match her rather aggressive name. Zhou Ning hadn't expected her to be a rich lady, either.
Honestly, just for that name alone, he'd been tempted to give her a 10% discount.
After satisfying her request for a signed photo, Vayne Sturwell reluctantly swallowed the Devil Fruit—and promptly turned into a leopard. It was the Cat-Cat Fruit, Leopard Model—the same type as Rob Lucci's. Luck was clearly on her side.
Meanwhile, once Gun-Fu: Deadly Rhythm went on sale, it instantly became the top-grossing skill. Costing 10,000 EXP and 1.5 Vecktas per lesson, that skill alone earned Zhou Ning nearly nine million EXP and over a thousand Vecktas.
Not to mention the newly released Mongoose Elixir. Players had zero resistance to any potion that boosted agility.
A few well-known players led the charge in spending, and watching his EXP and gold skyrocket like a rocket launch made Zhou Ning silently rejoice.
Richie Burke stood nearby, stunned. The connection between Wayne Sturwell and these "Chosen Ones" was baffling—part superior-subordinate, part business relationship. In just two hours, he'd seen her earn over ten thousand Vecktas. He couldn't make sense of it at all. Determined, Richie Burke told himself he needed to stick close to Wayne, approach these Chosen Ones, and hand out more quests.
Just… not end up like that guy called XB, who wouldn't even stop pestering people about handing him toilet paper while he was on the toilet.
...
Meanwhile, the Wolf-Dog Squad was casually chatting in their group channel.
Since Wrath of Thunder-Chasing Winds (the Dog-Dog Fruit user) was away, only three members were online: XB, Jinse, and Sunken Star Beneath the Water.
Jinse: "I hit level 30! (Confetti!) (Confetti!)"
Sunken Star Beneath the Water: "(Thumbs-up emoji) As expected of a grind god!"
XB: "@Jinse No wonder your chest's flat—all your energy went into grinding!"
Jinse: "Angry!! (Little girl furious emoji)"
Sunken Star Beneath the Water: "Okay, calm down. The guild shop just released two new dungeons—no one's cleared them yet. Want to try for a world first? My treat."
Jinse: "Big spender! But Thunderstorm's not here. With just three of us, how do we do this?"
Sunken Star Beneath the Water: "I can pull in Moon Star, and we'll grab Haicheng as the fifth."
"Deal!" Everyone agreed immediately. Soon, Moon Star and Haicheng joined them near the alchemy shop. Moon Star was the player from Stellar Club who had bought a Devil Fruit but hadn't used it yet—a shy young man with glasses who piqued Jinse's curiosity.
The five formed a party. Since the dungeon Battle at the Forbidden Summit had been reported as way too hard—allowing only melee weapons—even high-level teams like Pure Wild Ale had repeatedly wiped. Wayne Sturwell's Sword Saint had one-shot even a 2,300 HP tank in the IF storyline.
After discussion, Sunken Star Beneath the Water decided to buy the dungeon Austin Manor: Destruction Battle.
A true expert knows when to bend and when to strike!
"Let's enter and give it a try!"
Sunken Star Beneath the Water activated the dungeon stone. Their vision blurred, and the five appeared inside a gloomy mansion.
"Be careful—this dungeon's brutal," Moon Star warned. "Not made for normal humans."
The interface displayed:
[This is a base shared by the Life Alchemy Society and the Curse God Cult. Inside lurk numerous cultists. Eliminate as many as you can before time runs out.]
[Preparation Time: 5 minutes]
[Countdown: 00:40:00]
[Objective 1: Kill 10 Cursed God Cultists (0/10). Reward: 50,000 EXP.]
[Objective 2: Kill 20 Cursed God Cultists (0/20). Reward: 60,000 EXP.]
[Objective 3: Kill Priest Niam (0/1). Reward: 72,000 EXP.]
[Objective 4: Kill Priest Gaskell (0/1). Reward: 75,000 EXP.]
[Objective 5: Survive 3 minutes under Professor Bislok's assault. Reward: 80,000 EXP.]
It was exactly the same format as Gnomeregan, but with much better rewards! The team was instantly fired up.
As the countdown ended, the dungeon began.
The first wave of enemies was a group of patrolling cultists, levels 29–34—manageable.
Taking a deep breath, Jinse, the highest-level player, fired first to draw aggro. With sharp instincts, she perfectly timed her shots, splitting the enemies' path and separating three from the pack.
"Grab those!" Jinse shouted.
"You're a beast, Jin God!" Sunken Star Beneath the Water yelled as his body swelled, transforming into a jackal to intercept one enemy. Moon Star stayed in human form, while the other four focused fire and quickly eliminated the remaining two.
It was a typical party setup—mostly Gunslingers, sometimes with one spirit-gear-equipped player serving as a healer, jokingly called "shoot-and-pray medics."
XB was live-streaming the run. Well-stocked with potions, he downed healing and buff elixirs like water. Against all odds, they made it to the first boss—Priest Niam.
The boss was an undead warlock, level 36, with devastating area-of-effect dark spells like Death Ripple. Moon Star didn't hold back—he transformed into a mammoth and charged, only to be one-shot by a shadow bolt in half a second.
That triggered a chain reaction. Soon after, Jinse, Sunken Star Beneath the Water, and XB were all dead.
[Dungeon: Austin Manor Destruction Battle—FAILED]
The team stared blankly at each other. At least a small consolation prize dropped—a staff with +4 Wisdom. They gave it to Sunken Star Beneath the Water as compensation.
Just as they were about to try again, the guild channel exploded:
"Check the forum! The Professional League's starting!"
The whole group perked up instantly and logged off in seconds.
Zhou Ning saw the same announcement right away. Forget trading—he jumped straight onto the forums.
A pinned post was at the top, with millions of replies pouring in:
"TI1: The Apocalypse Professional League Is About to Begin!"
The official start time: When the first player reaches level 40.
"So soon?" Zhou Ning was taken aback. With Darkland in such turmoil, this league couldn't have picked a worse time to launch!