There were many people who were selling gold in Floating Ice City, but I feared I was the only one who would sell 150 gold in one go.

Many people shook their heads. They clearly did not believe people would be willing to purchase 150 gold. This was a considerable sum. Even if 1 gold would trade for 80 RMB, this would be 12000 RMB in total, akin to the quarterly salary of a white-collar worker. Most people could not afford it.

At this time, someone shouted from up ahead, "150 gold? You have a deal!"

I looked over and found a high-level warrior standing in the crowd in refined armor that was at least Iron-grade. He held a gleaming curved blade, with a line of characters above his head—Dominating Heaven Blade LV-32 Bronze Warrior!

It’s him?!

I stilled slightly. The ambitions of the Domination Clan were clear. It was no secret to anyone that they aimed to rule Floating Ice City one day. And now, Dominating Heaven Blade was coming to purchase gold in person. Tsk tsk, this leader handled everything.

Two voices sounded in my mind. This Dominating Heaven Blade would be my future opponent. Should I sell the gold to him or not?

After thinking, I decided I would! Why not? I was just using his money to aid my development. He must be a fool with more money than sense. Why not take advantage of him?

Hence, I raised an eyebrow and said with a smile, "Friend, how do you plan on paying this sum? Right now, the game doesn’t let us use our bank accounts directly to make transactions.”

Dominating Heaven Blade shrugged and laughed. "Simple, you tell me your bank account number, I will have someone send it over. At most five minutes. After you receive the money, give the gold to me, isn't that simple?"

I nodded. This person was generous in his spending, and very honorable and forthright in his conduct. This was someone who could attain major accomplishments. Lin Yixin's apprehensions were correct. In Floating Ice City, Dominating Heaven Blade and the Domination Clan were extremely likely to become our greatest enemy.

"Listen well, my account number is 662700200873*******, China Construction Bank. You can arrange for money to be sent, I’ll check online.”

"Okay, no problem!"

Dominating Heaven Blade laughed brightly. "Wait a moment, I’ll get it done immediately!"

After about four minutes, Dominating Heaven Blade said, "Done. You can check your bank balance!"

"Okay!"

I activated the web browser overlay and connected to my bank website. I logged in. As expected, my card which used to have 0.47 yuan now had 12000.47 yuan. This guy really is a fat sheep.

"Is it there?" Dominating Heaven Blade asked with a smile.

I nodded. "Okay, come, I'll trade you the gold!"

"Good!"

After giving Dominating Heaven Blade 150 gold, I hesitated and asked, "You trust me so much? If I ran away after getting the money and didn't give you the gold, wouldn't you have suffered a loss?"

Dominating Heaven Blade laughed. "You are joking. Just a mere twelve thousand and you’d run away? I do not care about this minor sum. Also, my reason for trusting you is not because of the small sum but because...”

"Because of what?"

"Because you are Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! Hahaha, an expert on the Heavenly Ranking will treasure their ID like their life. In the China server, which of the celebrities like Candlelight Shadow and Falling Dust are not like that?"

I nodded and smiled faintly. "It does make sense. Let’s do business in the future. I have to go!"

"Fine!"

……

I looked at the time. It was about 8 in the morning but I felt no drowsiness. I sent a message to Du Thirteen. "Thirteen, log off. I want to discuss something with you!"

"Oh? Alright!"

Du Thirteen was about to fall asleep as he leveled up. He hurriedly went offline so he could sleep.

Thirteen came to the living room and asked, his face tired, as he sat on the sofa, "What is it?"

"That is... " I thought for a moment and said, "How about… we create a gaming workshop?"

"What, a gaming workshop?!" Thirteen was stunned.

"Yes." I explained, "Heavenblessed is a large-scale MMORPG. We cannot accomplish anything with just us alone. Even killing a boss is very dangerous alone. Therefore, we need to raise our banner and gather warriors underneath, waging war on other factions of Floating Ice City!"

By the time I finished my little speech, Thirteen’s blood was boiling, his face flushed. He clenched his fists and said with a smile, “Brother, just say what we have to do. I’ve been waiting to live a carefree life in this world. Say, what experts will we recruit to our workshop?"

I thought for a moment. "You, me.”

"Damn! Just the two of us?"

"Yes, temporarily. We can expand later. First, we need to find a new residence.” I looked at the sorry state of the one-bedroom apartment of mine, and said exasperatedly, "This place is too small. How about we find a four-bedroom to rent?"

Thirteen said, "That would be good, but too expensive. An apartment like that in the city, even the new districts, will cost at least 3000 yuan per month. With a signing deposit, we must have at least 12000 yuan.”

I nodded and smiled. "Money is not a problem. We can continue to make money in the game. Let’s go right now, let’s find a place and make our first step toward opening our workshop, okay?"

"Alright, no problem!"

Du Thirteen suddenly stood up, his expression determined and eager. Such a hot-blooded youth. However, what he said next almost caused me to spit blood. "Once the workshop is founded, we can invite a few beautiful players to join. That way... ha, when men and women work together, it will not be tiring!"

I glared disdainfully at him. "And it would be best if these women were in the same room as you, hmm?"

"Damn, who do you think I am? I, Du Thirteen, am… an upright person! Okay, how about this. One for you, one for me. You’ll get the more beautiful one too...”

"Get lost!"

……

The morning sun hung high in the sky, shining brightly. Two hot-blooded youths who had not slept a second at night sprinted through the streets energetically. This craze went on until afternoon, when they finally stopped.

Thirteen couldn’t help but doubt where I had gotten such a huge sum as 12000 RMB from. "Brother, did you go sell yourself last night?"

"That is impossible. I am a very chaste person, I could never conduct such business. But I would believe if you did that. I doubt you’d get many clients though," I casually answered.

Du Thirteen almost spat blood.

We had decided on the location of our workshop, a small building in the new district near the China Resources Vanguard supermarket. It had been built in 2022, and was relatively new. It had four bedrooms like we wanted, and had all necessities. With a rent of 2950 yuan, it was on the cheaper side even. With the current state of the market, it was very hard to find a place like that.

"What should we do next?" Thirteen asked.

"Recruit our first workshop member!"

"Who?" Thirteen's eyes lit up. "Wind Fantasy... Lin Yixin is not bad. How about recruiting her?"

I laughed, and patted his shoulder. "Don’t waste your efforts bro. You won’t be able to get a girl like Lin Yixin. She definitely will look down on us and turn the offer down.”

"Really?" Thirteen was slightly dismayed and asked, "Then who could we recruit to our workshop? We definitely can’t recruit newbies...”

I nodded and agreed, "Yes, we don’t need more than one newbie!"

"Damn!" Thirteen was so angry he grabbed me, so I pushed him away. With a pitiful tone, he asked, “Then who?”

"Gui Guzi!"

"?!"

Thirteen had a stunned expression. "Gui Guzi is a renowned person on the Heavenly Ranking. Are we really able to pull him into our workshop?"

"Yes." I nodded. "Don't worry, I have confidence. Let's move our stuff to the workshop in the afternoon, sleep, and then plan our next step at night.”

"Good!"

After being busy the entire afternoon, I slowly woke up at three at night after eating dinner and sleeping. I went toward the room on the sunny side and woke up Thirteen. We then ate something and went online!

……

Swoosh!

I appeared in the grave in Frost Mound, pushing aside the rotten dirt to climb out. I opened my friend list. Gui Guzi was online!

I immediately sent a message: "If you are not busy, come to Frost Mound!"

"What is it?"

"Something good.”

"Alright, I will come soon.”

Gui Guzi was a rare expert. While his recent results had been loss and death on every encounter, the opponents he was fighting were me and Lin Yixin. Lin Yixin’s equipment and mechanics were top-class, she had strength to challenge even the Martial God, Candlelight Shadow. After my delay was lowered to half a second, I soared in strength to the point where I could look down on players at Gui Guzi’s level.

Gui Guzi was a first-class expert, while people like me, Lin Yixin, and Candlelight Shadow were above even that. Gui Guzi had a hard time fighting me and Lin Yixin, but he could fight many of Du Thirteen's level.

Soon, an undead knight came out of the woods in a black cloak. It was Gui Guzi!

"Broken Halberd, what is it?" Gui Guzi asked.

I said, "Little Gui, have you thought what guild you will join in the future?"

Gui Guzi was furious. "Damn! I hate people who call me Little Gui[1] the most...”

I also became angry. "Damn! I also hate people calling me Broken Halberd...”

Broken Halberd sounded like my ** was broken. This name was to be censored.

Gui Guzi said, "Why are you asking this?"

I said with a smile, "I’ve created a workshop and wanted to invite you to join. If you do not mind, then come. The workshop is in the new district of Suzhou. It has a bedroom, living room and board.”

"Oh?"

Gui Guzi's eyes lit up but he showed a hint of displeasure. "Why should I join your workshop?"

I spread my hands and said with a smile, "Simple, do you want to become a top expert?"

"Yes!" Gui Guzi had a burning gaze.

"Then if you join my workshop, I can 'teach' you daily...”

"Good!" Gui Guzi clenched his fists and said, "One day, I will surpass you and step over you!"

"Damn, just think it, don’t say it moron!"

The first expert recruited for the workshop was a superman whose goal was to defeat me. I don’t even know if it’s good or bad...

I sighed emotionally and told Gui Guzi how to get to Suzhou. Gui Guzi was from Wuxi, and he could pack up and arrive at Suzhou next afternoon on the express train.

Very good, our workshop is growing stronger!

1. Little Brat