Chapter 174: Platinum Member, Official Privileges

Chapter 174 -127: Platinum Member, Official Privileges

Shen Xing thought of that, too, and asked, “What’s this Rain God Illusion Realm like? Do you know the specific rules?”

“I don’t know either,” Xu Jiayi replied. “I saw on the forums that the rules for these kinds of event instances are all different.”

“According to the system’s earlier notification, this time we’ll be ranked based on our damage output.”

“As for how we’re supposed to tackle it, we’ll have to wait for the system’s announcement tomorrow.”

Shen Xing nodded. “Okay, let’s make some more preparations today, and then we’ll challenge this Rain God Avatar together.”

Qin Lang chimed in with a wounded tone, “You two sure are close, doing this together, doing that together.”

“So I’m the third wheel, huh? Fine, I’ll take my leave.”

“Well, whose fault is it you didn’t make the top hundred?” Xu Jiayi shot back without mercy. “You weren’t skilled enough. Are you blaming us for that?”

Shen Xing chimed in, “He’s right. You’ve still got to work harder, Qin Lang.”

“Heh, you two lovebirds, ganging up to bully me, huh?” Qin Lang shot back with a grin. “Don’t get ahead of yourselves. I’m about to break through to Tier Two.”

“The Extraordinary Level is when the Sacrificial Knight class truly begins to shine. You’ll all be begging to team up with me then!”

Shen Xing laughed, saying he was looking forward to it.

After that, the three of them chatted for a little while longer.

Then, he switched out of the group chat and checked the voice message from Xia Wanyin.

She first congratulated Shen Xing on taking first place, then shared her own score—she had made it into the top three hundred.

Shen Xing was surprised. After all, that was a very impressive rank.

For this ranking challenge, points were only awarded for solo kills, so players from different territories couldn’t team up.

For Xia Wanyin to have fought her way into the top three hundred on her own merit, she truly lived up to her reputation as a rich young lady.

After congratulating her, he closed the Green Bubble app.

He glanced at the time and saw it was already three in the morning.

WHIR!

Shen Xing opened the motorized curtains and glanced outside.

The rain seemed to have let up, the earlier torrential downpour now just a steady drizzle.

His bedroom was on the second floor and had an excellent view; he could see the Bailong River right from his bed.

In the distance, the churning waters of the river flowed ceaselessly under the night sky.

The lights from countless homes on both banks reflected on the water’s surface, swaying gently with the waves.

‘Looks like this downpour is finally about to stop.’

‘Good. Any longer and I might start to grow mold.’

Shen Xing watched for a moment longer, then drew the curtains again, turned off the light, and went to sleep.

…

…

Meanwhile, in a conference room on the top floor of the Jiang City Pioneer Association building.

A number of people were already seated around a large conference table.

At the head of the table sat a powerfully built, middle-aged man in a sharp, gray uniform.

This was the director of the Jiang City Anomaly Handling Bureau, Zhang Yu.

On either side of him sat a kind-faced elderly man and a middle-aged man with a resolute air.

They were the two vice directors of the Jiang City Anomaly Handling Bureau: Wang Kun and Liu Hongtao.

Also present were Logistics Team Captain Jiang Rong, Action Team Captain Zhou Zheng, and several other team captains.

In effect, nearly all the key members of the Jiang City Anomaly Handling Bureau had gathered.

“I’ve called everyone here so late tonight to discuss an urgent matter.”

The Director at the head of the table began, “With Shen Xing taking first place on the leaderboard, the higher-ups have decided to cultivate him as a Celestial Star Seed.”

“In one month, a special overseas Void Realm—the Spiral Maze—will open.”

“The higher-ups have given Jiang City five slots, and I want to discuss with all of you who we should choose to send.”

Upon hearing this, everyone in the conference room grew solemn.

This was because the Spiral Maze was quite special.

Unlike other Foggy Void Realms, which were formed by anomalous Energy leaks that manifested as points of Fog.

Instead, it had existed for many years.

It first appeared over the ocean, where it was spotted by passing fishing boats. It looked like a gigantic maze shrouded in Fog.

Though it looked solid, it was intangible and couldn’t be touched, just like a mirage.

At first, people paid it little attention.

But as time went on, the gigantic oceanic Maze began to appear periodically, and always in a random location. This finally caught the attention of high-level officials around the world.

Later, an Expert-level Lord from the Earth Bear Country managed to enter the Maze using a special method.

Not long after he emerged, he broke through to the Master Level in one fell swoop, becoming the Earth Bear Country’s seventh Master-level expert and drawing global attention.

Moreover, he publicly revealed the method for entering the Maze, as well as the fact that it potentially held a vast trove of treasures.

This Master-level Lord admitted that the area he had explored within the Maze was less than even one-thousandth of the entire region!

It was a land of opportunity, filled with immense treasures.

Hearing the news, many Extraordinary- and Expert-level Lords rushed to the sea at the first opportunity to enter the Void Realm and explore.

And they did indeed obtain a great number of treasures inside, emerging with a dramatic increase in power.

As a result, powerful experts from every nation flocked to it.

Several large-scale conflicts even broke out between nations as they fought to control the Void Realm.

Eventually, after a round of ‘friendly negotiations,’ a policy was established: the Spiral Maze belonged to no single country, but to everyone.

Each nation would receive entry slots to the Maze based on its power.

However, because only a limited number of people could enter the Maze at any given time, these slots were exceedingly rare.

That was why they were so surprised for Jiang City to have secured five slots all at once.

“So, does that mean that besides Shen Xing, we have four more slots to assign?” Elder Wang asked.

“Yes.” Director Zhang nodded. “I suggest we give a slot to Zhou Zheng and one to Jiang Rong.”

“After all, this Void Realm is only open to Tier Two and Tier Three Lords. With Shen Xing’s strength, it shouldn’t be difficult for him to break through to Tier Two once the leaderboard event is over.”

“But once inside, he’ll need protection from Expert-level powerhouses, lest he be targeted by people from other nations.”

Zhou Zheng and Jiang Rong looked up, surprised.

They apparently hadn’t expected that such precious slots would be given to them.

However, no one objected to the Director’s decision.

Beside him, the stern-faced Vice Director Liu spoke up. “And the other two slots… should go to some of the other outstanding young talents in Jiang City, then?”

“My thoughts exactly,” Director Zhang Yu said with a nod. “I’ve brought you all here to discuss candidates for those remaining two slots.”

“Please nominate some of Jiang City’s excellent new-generation Lords. I’ll compile a list, and then we’ll finalize the selections.”

At his words, everyone in the conference room began to discuss amongst themselves before submitting the names of the rookies they favored.

The nominees included “Jaguar” Yu Feifei, Second Generation Lord Gu Feng, and fighting champion Xiang Dong.

“In my opinion, there’s no need to discuss the other two slots.”

A somewhat casual voice rang out.

The conference room fell silent as everyone turned to look at the speaker.

“Zhou Zheng, what do you mean?” another captain, a woman, asked in confusion.

Zhou Zheng smiled. “I recommend giving the other two slots to Xu Jiayi and Qin Lang.”

“They’re both members of Shen Xing’s team. They also teamed up for the Foggy Void Realm incident at Bright Moon Bay Park and took the top three spots.”

He paused before explaining, “Of course, I’m not just giving them special treatment because I discovered the three of them. I’m being objective here.”

“In terms of strength, Xu Jiayi ranked 94th this time—in the global top one hundred. Qin Lang ranked in the global top one thousand. Both of them are more than qualified.”

“And looking at the bigger picture, the main reason we even got five slots is because Shen Xing took first place.”

“So we can’t very well send him into the Maze alone and leave his two teammates behind, can we?”

After Zhou Zheng finished his well-reasoned argument, the conference room fell silent.

After a moment, Director Zhang Yu made the decision. “Then it’s settled. The slots will go to Shen Xing and his two teammates.”

“As well as Zhou Zheng and Jiang Rong. A total of five people.”

Now that the Director had spoken, the others naturally had no objections and nodded in agreement.

After a pause, Elder Wang spoke slowly. “Next, let’s discuss the specific support packages for the top-ranking Lords from this leaderboard event.”

“For Shen Xing, I recommend…”

…

…

「The next day…」

BZZT… BZZT…

The constant buzzing of the phone on his bedside table jolted the soundly sleeping Shen Xing awake.

He picked it up and saw several notifications slide across the screen.

[Dear Mr. Shen Xing, your Pioneer account Level has been upgraded to ‘Platinum Member.’ All items purchased on the trading platform will be exempt from handling fees, and you will enjoy the fastest matching service when consigning items for sale.]

[Dear Mr. Shen Xing, a match has been found for the advancement treasure you listed for sale. Matched items: Beastman Totem, Broken Demon Wings.]

[Delivery is now being arranged. Estimated delivery time: 25 minutes…]

…

‘Huh… Platinum-level status!?’

Shen Xing was instantly wide awake, his eyes filled with surprise.

He had read about this on the forums before. Pioneer accounts were divided into different tiers.

You enjoyed different privileges based on your cumulative spending.

A cumulative spending of 0 to 1,000,000 contribution points made you a regular member with no special perks. The handling fee was the standard 3%, and matching speed was normal.

1,000,000 to 10,000,000 contribution points made you a Silver Member. You received a certain annual quota for fee waivers and five uses of the expedited matching service.

10,000,000 to 50,000,000 contribution points made you a Gold Member. The handling fee was permanently halved to 1.5%, matching priority was high, and you received personal assistance when conducting business in major cities.

A cumulative spending of over 50,000,000 points upgraded you to a Platinum Member, which came with a full waiver of all handling fees and the highest matching priority.

There were also other privileges like holiday gifts, the fastest delivery speeds, and an interest-free credit line.

As for the tiers above that, there was the Diamond Member for those who spent over 100 million points, and the legendary Black Diamond Member, a status rumored to be exclusive to Master-level Lords and above.

It was important to note that this cumulative spending was measured in contribution points, not Celestial Star Coins.

The exchange rate was 1 contribution point = 1,000 dollars!

That meant a Platinum Member account represented a cumulative spending of over 50 billion dollars.

There were only a handful of them in the entire world.