Chapter 171: Chapter 154: The Cheating Secret of the Blood Moon_2
Power is a type of resource, an important one, but not the only one. The more stable a society, the less valuable the resource of power becomes, and in this civilization that has been passed down for over a thousand years, power serves merely as a threshold, much like a degree that acts as a ticket to knock on doors.
Those who are not mages can only dutifully become fuel for society. While mages are eligible to participate in this game, that is merely eligibility because this is a PVP game that started a millennium ago, and there are no such things as Newbie Villages or low-level areas. All new players who join face enemies that are various guild big shots (businesspersons), committed gamers (elites), Level 100 Players (Legendary Mages), and even cheaters (Blood Moon Two-Winged).
The most interesting aspect is that despite being a PVP game, the society is all safe zones, where theoretically one is not allowed to attack each other.
So new players have only two paths—to be the dog of old players, sharing in the resources trickling down from the old players’ fingertips through bootlicking, or to become fuel, tacitly isolated and ousted by the old players.
Gessas was a new player who had only started his game account thirty-six years ago. Although he indeed possessed remarkable talent, being a mere Beastman who stepped into the ranks of the Two-winged at thirty, his master was an old player who had joined the game one hundred and eighty years ago.
Compared to magic power, connections, power, and resources are the most terrifying forces of Elves.
The prestigious titles such as the president of the Elf Rights Protection Association, City Council member, and school professor are needless to mention. Merely being “the behind-the-scenes owner of Woodpecker” could easily destroy all the efforts Gessas made over the years—Gessas is certainly the current leader of Woodpecker, but most of the Core Members of Woodpecker could be directly controlled by the Master.
Ironically, as an organization that does the dirty work, the Core Members of Woodpecker actually don’t have things like salaries; even if their labor rights are violated, labor laws will certainly not protect them. Rather, it’s possible that the Crime Hunting Hall could help them seek revenge.
The primary source of income for most members of organizations like Woodpecker is—loans.
All remuneration the members receive is ‘temporary borrowing’ from financial companies. Of course, as long as you honestly do your job, they naturally won’t ask you to repay the money, not to mention charge interest. But once the financial company decides to collect, anyone who can’t repay will directly become a ‘defaulter.’
In the Kingdom of Blood Moon, becoming a ‘defaulter’ is equivalent to only being able to sleep under a cardboard box beneath an overpass. One cannot use any transportation, enter or exit any checkpoints, make any high expenditures, rent housing, or even communicate, effectively kicking you out of civilized society with one foot.
Perhaps some might wonder, with such harsh conditions, why would anyone still join Woodpecker? Can’t they honestly work and sign a lawful and regulated labor contract with protected rights?
Because almost all members of Woodpecker are unable to tolerate the nine-to-five job. Moreover, for a mage, unless joining a research institute or other specific organizations, most jobs are a waste of time for them.
The learning of mages requires full-time dedication and a lot of money.
Even if they want to take a loan to engage in full-time cultivation, no bank would approve such a loan. By comparison, Woodpecker’s offer of an ‘unlimited term, interest-free loan’ seems very attractive. If one can become a Two-winged Mage, Woodpecker will naturally write off the loan and even put them to good use; even if they don’t become Two-winged, as long as they are honest and don’t betray the organization, Woodpecker will not ruin their credit.
If you want to work while cultivating, it’s not impossible; in fact, such individuals are often promoted as inspiring role models. But since it’s considered ‘inspiring,’ it indicates just how challenging that path is, with success being achieved only by those who have combined talent, effort, and luck, able to break free from ordinary life.
Those with such qualities might actually achieve success faster by joining Woodpecker and taking the unorthodox path.
Woodpecker’s growth to its current size is far from being mere luck. Even without Woodpecker, these dark mages would still pledge loyalty to other forces to exchange for learning resources (especially time resources), even if it meant signing even harsher contracts and being subservient.
Moreover, most mages don’t even have the opportunity to be dogs.
They can only be the dogs of dogs.
If the income from a regular legal job is 1, dog food for someone at Gessas’s level is 15, then the income for Silver Tongue of Woodpecker is 5, Golden Mouth is 10.
Therefore, even though Gessas could potentially explode into action and have a chance to kill an Elf, he can only humbly bow his head.
What good is killing the Master anyway? He can’t inherit any of the Elf’s legacy, and Woodpecker, bound by debts, will not recognize a criminal leader. Everything owned by the Elf will also be divided by his peers, and Gessas, as one who broke the game’s rules, will only be sent to Shattered Lake Prison, to be drained of his last drop of dignity as a ‘vicious criminal gang leader’ live on Blood Moon broadcasts.
The best outcome would be for some other ‘old player’ to take a liking to Gessas, spare his life, and include him under their command, in other words… Gessas would simply switch masters.
This is the racial equality of Blood Moon, in front of the Longevity Species, everyone is an equal inferior.
This is the human rights and freedom of Blood Moon, the freedom to freely choose which old player to serve as a dog.
For a long time, Gessas knew that Blood Moon was a Paradise for the Longevity Species. In this game where inheritance doesn’t exist, wealth can’t accumulate over generations, and all new players need to ‘start over,’ lifespan becomes the most powerful cheating trick.