GOR Chapter 120: Transaction Proposal
Chen Xiaolian was at a loss as to whether he should be laughing or sympathizing with this female pilot.
By comparison, when his team had been forced into this instance dungeon, there was still over 20 minutes of time. They were comparatively much luckier.
“I only have 4 energy sources on me. My own energy source cannot be moved, so I did not take it with me,” Nicole said softly.
“You entered this instance dungeon alone, and yet you came out to snatch our energy source? Are you not afraid that your own energy source would be snatched away?”
Nicole’s face was strange as she turned to look at Chen Xiaolian. “When fighting alone, I could only choose to leave my pet to protect the energy source. En, it is the ‘Floater’ that you all saw back then. That is my pet.
“In the end, I had no choice but to summon Floater to my side in order to deal with those people from the Thorned Flower Guild. Thus… I fear that my energy source has been snatched away by now.”
Lun Tai spoke out. “You are… a member of the ‘Floating Angels’?”
“Floating Angels, what is that?” Chen Xiaolian asked.
“The name of a guild,” Lun Tai shook his head. “Let me put it this way. Those with permanent residence in Zero City can be divided into two types.
“The first type is those top guilds with the qualifications to permanent residence in Zero City. However, they could actually be viewed as guests with the qualification to station themselves within Zero City for the long-term. They are not the true owners of Zero City. One such example is the owner of the Tourist Lodge, Rodriar Guild.
“The second type is the governing body of Zero City. These people, such as Miss Nicole before us are Zero City’s governing officials. Generally speaking, this governing organization within Zero City is very big. The highest authority rests in the hands of the management committee, commonly known as the Board of Patriarchs. The Board of Patriarchs controls everything within Zero City, be it daily management, allocation of resources, military defence, all business matters etc.
“You must understand. Even those people in Zero City cannot hide from the system’s instance dungeon forever.
“Even though Zero City is equipped with a blocking function, from what I heard, this function is somewhat flawed! As an outsider, I do not know of the details. However, I do know this. Even though Zero City has a blocking function, the people within Zero City must still come out often to participate in instance dungeons!
“Therefore, due to the need to participate in the battles that occur within instance dungeons, the governing organization in Zero City established their own guilds.
“One such example is this ‘Floating Angels’. I hear that they are one of the war guilds amongst Zero City’s security personnel. This guild was established by members of the security personnel. These Awakened ones are all people with mechanical and technological skills.
“Zero City’s governing organization has many other guilds besides them. The staff members from Zero City’s governing organization were the ones who established all those guilds. For example, I know that the Military Arms Department and the Services Office have their own respective guilds. Even the Intelligence Department have their own guild.
“As for the Floating Angels, they are a more renowned guild. The reason for that is that they hail from the security personnel. Theoretically speaking, they could be considered as a paramilitary organization and their battle strength would be more outstanding. Thus, they have a considerable amount of fame amongst the circle of Awakened ones.”
After saying that, Lun Tai asked out of curiosity. “Miss Nicole, the Guild Leader of your Floating Angels should be the Head of the Security Team, right? At the same time, that person is also one of the members of the management committee, the Board of Patriarchs, am I right?”
“You know quite a lot,” Nicole laughed out. “I find it strange. Why is the leader of your guild not a veteran like you and is instead a young rookie like him?”
After saying that, she deliberately paused her gaze for a brief moment on both Chen Xiaolian and Lun Tai.
Chen Xiaolian smiled. “Are you trying to sow discord right now?”
Nicole’s eyes then regarded the surroundings of the room.
It was a standard Japanese-style house. The room was not large and could be considered somewhat narrow. The room was also devoid of tables or chairs. Its floor was made of tatami and there was a cabinet to the side. A table lamp rested at a corner of the room – that was all.
The room was very simplistic and somewhat worn.
“This is quite a good place,” Nicole thought for a moment and turned to face Chen Xiaolian. She noticed that Chen Xiaolian’s hand was gripping onto the Bone Crusher Axe. “There is no need to be anxious. I currently do not have any battle strength. I am a pilot with technological abilities. Without any equipment, my battle strength is not strong. At the very least, I am not good at using cold weapons.”
“Your Floater is very powerful,” Chen Xiaolian replied softly. “Heaven knows if you can summon it out again. We witnessed with our own eyes how you transformed and hacked apart that Thunderstorm Tank in one explosive slash.”
Pausing, he then continued. “By the way, that Floater… is it a form of armour suit that can be worn? Like Ironman?”
“Floater is my pet!” Nicole scowled. “He is not a suit of armour! Floater is a mechanical life form!”
“Just like the Transformers?”
“ … … … you should cut down on movies,” Nicole bluntly replied in a cold manner.
“All right, all right. Now, give me what I want. You know what that is.”
Having said that, Chen Xiaolian turned around and brought a pile of items that was placed outside the door.
That pile of items turned out to be the damaged mechanical suit of armour, which was taken off Nicole’s body.
Nicole was silent as she walked over and regarded the damaged suit of armour. Her expression turned somewhat clouded. “My loss this time is truly big.”
After muttering those words, she utilized an unknown method to open a slot upon the suit of armour and retrieved two energy sources – those were the two energy sources she snatched from Chen Xiaolian’s side.
Chen Xiaolian maintained a calm expression. However, his heart was nervous!
Earlier on, he had picked up three energy sources from beside the Thunderstorm Tank.
In addition to these two energy sources that Nicole was giving back to him, he has now completed the quest objective: Five energy sources!
As expected, directly after Chen Xiaolian accepted the two energy sources…
The system suddenly issued out a prompt.
[System prompt: Your team has completed the first phase of the quest, achieving the quest objective of ‘Find 5 energy sources’].
[System prompt: According to system calculations, your team is the first team to complete the first phase of this instance dungeon’s quest. The system will randomly reward you with a [B] Class reward. The reward will be sent to the Team Leader’s Item Box. Please take note].
[System prompt: Due to your completion of the first phase of the quest, the 5 energy sources can now be kept within the system’s Item Box. At the same time, your energy sources will no longer appear as targets to the other participants of this instance dungeon].
[System prompt: You have completed the first phase of the quest. The second phase of the quest will be issued at the end of the countdown].
Chen Xiaolian let out a sigh of relief.
He quickly kept the five energy sources into the system’s Item Box.
Observing Chen Xiaolian’s actions, Nicole revealed a complicated expression. Suddenly, she laughed. “How ironic… those fellows from Thorned Flower suffered heavy losses and failed to complete the quest. As for me, I lost a war armour worth 2,000 points and still failed to complete the quest. Instead, a rookie like you managed to complete it… if I am not mistaken, you might even be the first to complete the quest? Is there any reward?”
“Yes,” Chen Xiaolian did not conceal it. “[B] Class reward… for an expert like you, this should not be anything worth looking at, right?”
“Your luck is quite something,” Nicole uttered softly. “In this game, strength is indeed a huge factor. But most of the time, one’s luck can change the outcome.”
She stood up. “Now, how do you plan to deal with me?”
“You are free, you can leave,” Chen Xiaolian gave a faint smile.
However, Nicole did not move.
She looked at Chen Xiaolian. “How about we make a deal?”
“…” Chen Xiaolian looked at Nicole warily.
“The energy sources have been snatched by you and the current me only have two energy sources… add that to my own energy source – without my Floater’s protection, I am uncertain as to whether or not the energy source has been snatched away. Additionally, only slightly more than 10 hours is left in the countdown. My current state is also not very good… my personal War Mech armour has been ruined. I will also need time to restore my battle strength… in other words, the probability of me finishing this first phase of the quest is extremely low. As such…”
“What are you trying to say?”
“I want to ask for a cooperation,” Nicole said softly. “I will join your guild – naturally, it will only be temporary. By joining your guild, I become one of your team members. By default, that makes me someone who has completed the first phase of the quest, allowing me to avoid system punishment. After that… while within this instance dungeon, I will fight alongside you and your team members. After this instance dungeon is over, I will leave your guild – at the same time, I will hand over all the loot I acquired from this instance dungeon. What do you think?”
“… would that work?” That was Chen Xiaolian’s first reaction. “Aren’t you a member of the so-called ‘Floating Angels Guild?”
“I believe you have misunderstood something. Floating Angels is an organization, only a guild in name. It is an organization established by the members of Zero City’s security personnel. This organization is not registered as a guild within the Guild System. In other words, the system views me as a solo participant, one without any guild.”
Chen Xiaolian was shocked.
That worked?
The Floating Angels… is an organization in name only? They did not register a guild through the system?
“Why?” Chen Xiaolian became curious. “Why not register a guild? Wouldn’t that be disadvantageous?”
“The benefit of a guild is the autonomous authority to pick instance dungeons. The second benefit is the exclusive equipment for each guild,” Nicole said with indifference. “I am a member of Zero City. As you know, Zero City possesses a function that could block the system. Although this function has its flaws, in terms of the autonomous authority in picking instance dungeons, it far surpasses those provided by a guild. As for the guild’s exclusive equipment… hehe, do you think Zero City is lacking in those?”
Pausing, Nicole then continued in a low tone. “You probably do not know this… when a guild participates in an instance dungeon, if you compare it with individual participants, at the end when the instance dungeon is completed under similar conditions, the rewards given to the individual participants will be far more generous compared to those given to the guild. Of course… individual participants will face a higher level of difficulty. However, we of the Floating Angels are brothers and sisters from the security force, with mutual trust in one another. That is why, when we are participating in an instance dungeon, even though we are not a guild by the system’s standards, we possess a unity that exceeds other guilds.”
Chen Xiaolian’s heart tensed!