Chapter 12 Niu Ren Tribe

Fortunately, they had Tang Yao as a buffer, so they weren’t too shocked. Nie Yan’s level was clearly the result of leveling with Tang Yao.

To run into two level 14s today, and both of them were classmates! Especially Nie Yan, who used to be ordinary except for his good grades. He was actually so awesome! Guo Huai, Zhao Li, and Hao Cheng were a little dizzy.

"We knew you were low-key back in junior high. You always hovered around tenth place in the usual exams, then suddenly jumped into the top three during the big ones. It really suits your style. I always thought you didn't play games, but when you do, you're so fierce! You even hide yourself when you get on the leaderboards. Seems we're not secretive or flamboyant enough," Guo Huai said with a wry smile, shaking his head.

Guo Huai had always been relatively low-key. Among all their classmates, only Nie Yan, Tang Yao, Zhao Li, and Hao Cheng, who were his closest friends, knew his family was rich. Usually, he seemed honest and unassuming. But now it seemed Nie Yan was the most low-key of them all.

"So, all five of us are pretty strong. Should we try starting a guild?" Hao Cheng asked eagerly. Hao Cheng's father ran a martial arts school and had a wide network of connections. He figured they could pull in a lot of people if they started a guild.

"I think so too. Let's give it a shot. I can get a lot of classmates to join," Zhao Li added. He was a little lacking in strength, but he was good at socializing and had good relationships with everyone, especially the girls.

"If we're going to build a guild, let's do something big, at least make it look decent. As for the shares, you guys discuss it and come up with a plan," Nie Yan said after thinking for a moment. If he could spread out the management of the guild, he wouldn't be so tired and could focus on his own things. Guo Huai, Hao Cheng, and Zhao Li were still very promising—young and energetic. And they were starting from a good point: pulling in classmates first, then expanding the scope. Everyone knew each other and would be more reliable. It was hard to completely prevent spies from other guilds from infiltrating, but at least they could keep the team a little purer. A group of eighteen, nineteen, or twenty-year-olds often had more talent for gaming than some older people.

Zhao Li quickly waved his hand. "I don't want any shares. I can help out, though. We're all brothers."

Guo Huai shook his head, rejecting Zhao Li's statement. "Precisely because we're brothers, we need to determine the shares from the beginning." Guo Huai's family was in business, and he had seen too many cases where brothers turned against each other after the business grew because the equity wasn't properly allocated at the start.

"Guo Huai, what do you think? How should the equity be distributed?" Nie Yan asked. Clearly, Guo Huai was more experienced in business matters.

"I've been thinking about it. The guild will be built on your and Tang Yao's reputations, so you two should take the lion's share, 85%, and the three of us can split the remaining 15% equally. As for financial resources, I can invest in the guild when the game currency exchange opens, but it probably won't be much. If it's a bust, then so be it. If we succeed in the future, the guild can pay me back," Guo Huai said after thinking for a bit. He didn't want too much, just 5% of the shares as a symbol.

"If they're taking 5%, I'll take 5% too, but don't give me any guild management responsibilities," Tang Yao said. He was lazy and didn't want to get involved in complicated matters.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment, then nodded. "Let's leave the guild management to Guo Huai. Hao Cheng and Zhao Li can assist him, and Tang Yao and I will be responsible for forming an elite team." Guo Huai and the others would never guess how much their 5% shares would be worth. Nie Yan would still have to rely on them a lot in the future. Only when someone treated the guild as their own business would they truly give 100% effort. He had seen their character and personality in his previous life, and compared to two lifetimes of friendship, 5% of the shares was nothing.

"Sounds good to me," Tang Yao immediately agreed.

"Alright, that's settled then. You guys need to level up faster, especially Tang Yao. As long as you secure a spot on the leaderboard, we can use your name to recruit people, so just focus on leveling," Guo Huai said. This was very important; otherwise, nothing else could be discussed.

"Don't worry, I'll rush to the top of the level leaderboard tomorrow and take down Po Tian," Tang Yao said confidently.

"Rushing so hard?" Hao Cheng asked in surprise.

"How exactly are you leveling? How are you so fast?" They were all very puzzled.

"You'll have to ask Nie Yan about that, but don't worry, once the guild matters are settled, I'll take you guys to level up. I guarantee you'll hit level 15 in a day," Tang Yao said, patting his chest and looking at Nie Yan, who didn't object.

"You said it."

"Don't go back on your word. In that case, why are we still leveling? Let's go recruit people tomorrow," Hao Cheng said excitedly.

"You guys recruit people. After I finish leveling tomorrow, I'll go set up the guild warehouse," Nie Yan said. The guild warehouse was very important after establishing the guild.

The guild warehouse was a symbol of a guild's strength, composed of hundreds or thousands of pieces of equipment. Equipment of every level had to be available. This equipment would be available to players whose guild contribution points met the requirements. When a player's guild contribution points reached a certain level, they could exchange them for a piece of equipment. After they outleveled it, they could return the equipment and get higher-level equipment. If the equipment was lost, a certain amount of contribution points would be deducted. At the same time, adding equipment to the guild warehouse could increase contribution points.

Whether a guild's warehouse was complete or not directly determined the guild's future development. The financial resources required to build a guild warehouse were considerable. If the scale of the guild warehouse didn't match the guild's strength, it could easily lead to a large loss of players. The larger the scale of the guild warehouse and the better the equipment attributes, the easier it would be to attract players to stay. When a player stayed in a guild for a long time, they would develop a sense of belonging and would increase their guild contribution points by donating equipment. In the end, the items in the guild warehouse still belonged to the guild and were just loaned to the players.

A guild's prosperity or decline was closely related to the completeness of its guild warehouse.

"You have the ability to build a guild warehouse now?" Guo Huai asked in surprise.

"I can raise a little bit, I guess. Bronze and Silver equipment aren't worth much, so I should be able to get a lot," Nie Yan calculated. At the start, having a few thousand pieces of Bronze equipment and a few hundred pieces of Silver equipment should attract a lot of guild players to increase their guild contribution points.

"Well, having Bronze and Silver equipment is already great. Right now, a lot of players are wearing White and Bronze equipment. Silver equipment is rare. How much can you get?" Guo Huai asked.

The others also looked at Nie Yan, because what Nie Yan was about to say was crucial to the future development of the entire guild.

"I can take out 20 gold coins to raise equipment. I also have over a hundred pieces of Silver equipment and dozens of pieces of Gold equipment. That's all I can take out," Nie Yan said. He had a pharmacy and would have a steady stream of income. As for equipment, he obtained it by killing leaders, sub-elites, and elites. There would be more in the future.

Hearing Nie Yan say the number 20 gold coins, including Tang Yao, all four of them gasped. They knew Nie Yan was fierce, but they didn't expect him to be so fierce. Even several large guilds couldn't come up with that much money. What's more, he had so much Silver and Gold equipment. Nie Yan's wealth was truly frightening.

"Awesome. With the current purchasing power of game currency, 20 gold coins can buy a lot of Silver equipment with good attributes. The better the attributes of the equipment in the guild warehouse, the more it will entice a large number of players to fill the guild warehouse with equipment and increase their contribution points. If we stabilize them, we can attract more players to join. Then, we'll pull up an elite team, pull out a batch of second-rate teams, and there will be a steady stream of equipment entering the guild warehouse. Use the equipment that the elite team exchanges to support the second-rate teams, and use the equipment that the second-rate teams exchange to support ordinary players," Guo Huai said. He had studied everything related to guilds and understood them extremely well.

"It seems the situation is better than we expected," Hao Cheng said with a sigh of relief. He thought they were starting from scratch, but he didn't expect Nie Yan to be a big tycoon.

"Next, let's decide on a guild name," Guo Huai said.

"I'm good at this. How about Phoenix Ascending the Flames?" Tang Yao said enthusiastically.

"No, that name has already been taken."

"Shameless! Someone snatched the guild name I came up with!"

"Pfft, who's the most shameless?" Zhao Li said with a laugh and a scold.

"You guys should think of something."

The others racked their brains, not knowing what guild name to choose.

"Call it Sovereign Over All Under Heaven," Tang Yao came up with another one.

"Still been taken."

"......"

"How about Niu Ren Tribe? Everyone who joins the guild is a Niu Ren. When we sweep the level leaderboards, sweep the entire Calore, sweep the entire Greenlands Empire, that will be awesome," Tang Yao said excitedly. "I don't believe this one has been taken."

"This one is a little vulgar, but it's not bad," Guo Huai thought about it.

"But this name is a good omen," Hao Cheng also slightly agreed, but wasn't very sure.

Hearing their discussion, Nie Yan's heart stirred. Nie Yan's father's guild in his previous life was called War God Tribe, and Tang Yao suddenly came up with Niu Ren Tribe. Was it a coincidence or was it fate?

"Let's call it Niu Ren Tribe," Nie Yan said decisively.

"Alright, the guild name is settled then," Guo Huai also agreed.

Like many companies in their early stages of development, a table, three or four people, discussing enthusiastically, finally finalized a plan. They had nothing, started from scratch, and worked their way up. So, years later, they either ended miserably, disappeared into obscurity, or soared to success and dominated the world.

Everything was so unremarkable, just like so many other people.