Chapter 320 – Surrender
Nie Yan revealed almost all of his assets, allowing everyone to feel a burst of reassurance. The future of the War God Tribe was no longer filled with uncertainties.
The female staff member named Little Su was still explaining the War God Tribe’s development plan. The people from the big gaming organizations below the stage, unaware of the Nie Yan’s big reveal, were starting to kick up a ruckus.
“What the fuck are we supposed to do without gold? What a waste of time! Everyone, let’s go,” a bald man in his 30s jeered.
“Right! How do you expect to develop a guild without gold!?”
One person after another expressed their dissatisfaction.
“A large company like this can’t even come up with 50,000 gold? What a joke,” a professional player in his 20s sneered.
The crowd started raising their voices. The heads of the five large gaming organizations didn’t speak up, but they shared the same concerns. They wanted to see how the company’s higher-ups would solve this problem.
Nie Yan’s gaze locked onto the five at the front. Just what are they discussing? He feared these fellows didn’t have the War God Tribe’s best interests at heart. The only thing keeping them here was the generous salary offer.
“Please, calm down.” Little Su clearly lacked experience as she struggled to quell the crowd. She was on the verge of bursting out in tears. So when she saw Father Nie signalling for her to come down, she breathed out a sigh of relief. “Sorry, everyone. We’ll address your concerns after a short break.”
Little Su quickly got off the stage as the crowd’s heckling grew even louder. Things were starting to go off kilter.
“Chairman.” Little Su bowed to Father Nie.
Father Nie nodded. “We’ve come up with a new development proposal. The previous one will be scrapped. Here, have a look.”
“Let me go up,” Nie Yan interrupted. Little Su lacked the necessary experience. Where she would probably fail to handle this matter adequately, he could succeed with ease. After all, it was his proposal. And having dealt with much bigger situations before, he felt confident in shutting down these troublemakers.
Nie Yan walked up to the front of the podium and swept his gaze over the crowd.
Following this, the people below revealed expressions of disdain.
“Don’t tell me you guys are short on staff too? You’re actually having a brat go up?” a professional player mocked.
The heads of Icewind, Azure Dragon, Thunder God, Nightmoon, and Blaze remained silent.
“What are they planning?” Azure Dragon’s owner lowered his head and asked.
“Who knows. Let’s keep watching,” Frozen Prose replied. Their real names had long since taken a backseat to their ingame aliases.
They couldn’t for the life of them understand why Nie Yan had got up on stage. He only appeared to be around 18 years old, his face containing hints of immaturity.
Nie Yan’s cold gaze swept over the audience.
“You, you, and you are all dismissed!” Nie Yan pointed at the troublemakers. He didn’t know if these fellows came here with malicious intent. But regardless, they couldn’t be allowed to stay.
“And who the hell are you supposed to be? Tell the person in charge to come out!” one of the troublemakers shouted in indignation.
At this moment, Father Nie stood up and said in a cold tone, “He is my son. His words represent mine.”
Since the chairman had spoken, the crowd had nothing to say. Some of the troublemakers kicked up an even bigger fuss but were still escorted out by security, kicking and screaming.
Nie Yan understood these people were most likely members from the large gaming organizations who wanted to put pressure on the War God Tribe.
After the troublemakers were given the boot, the audience finally settled down.
“The War God Tribe was just recently established and still has barely gotten off the ground. This much is true. Those of you who wish to leave, please do. We won’t bar your way! We don’t need troublemakers here. The door is right over there!” Nie Yan swept his gaze over the audience, briefly pausing on the five heads of the large gaming organizations.
The head of Thunder God stood up. He was a man in his early 30s. Dressed in a black blazer, he was tall and had sharp eyes with thick brows. His name was Zhang Song, a famous figure in the professional gaming circle. He was an Elementalist called Mad Thunder Blaze, and he was nicknamed Thunder God by the players. He had over 600 players in his gaming organization, all of whom were powerful experts. Beyond this, he was most well-known for his arrogance and explosive temper.
The War God Tribe had originally spent a great deal of effort to invite this fellow over, promising him all sorts of benefits. His arrogance created countless difficulties for the higher-ups. But for the sake of the guild’s development, they acquiesced to his every demand.
Players naturally flocked to strong guilds, whereas weak guilds would have to beg players to join.
“You snot-nosed brat. Your so-called War God Tribe can’t even do something as simple as gathering gold, lagging behind before you’re even out the gates. I’m declaring this now. If the War God Tribe becomes successful, I’ll eat my own words,” Zhang Song sneered. He turned to the heads of the other gaming organizations. “My apologies, everyone. I’ll be taking my leave.”
In the previous timeline, the War God Tribe was always deferential for the sake of their growth. No longer would this be the case! Those who lorded it all over the place would be booted without question! These types of people had egos that soared to the high heavens. If they weren’t quickly brought down a peg, they would be impossible to control in the future!
Nie Yan coldly laughed. “Trust me, that day will come, and it will arrive much sooner than you think. Not long from now, Nisode City will belong to the War God Tribe! By then, even if you fall to your knees and beg, you won’t be welcome!”
Zhang Song coldly harrumphed, then turned around and left. A dozen or so people in the audience also stood up and followed him out. Presumably, they were members of Thunder God.
Things settled down considerably after Zhang Song and his lackeys left the room. The heads of the other gaming organizations remained in their seats. They weren’t as bull-headed as Zhang Song. Each of them was offered a generous salary for joining the War God Tribe. Why would they unnecessarily throw something like that away?
If it were the past, the higher-ups would definitely be panicking at the sight of Zhang Song bringing his people away. The War God Tribe was lacking gold, so all they could do was offer higher salaries and think of any means possible to get these people to stay. All else could wait. But now, the circumstances were different. They had the backing of Asskickers United. With a steady source of gold, they could raise incentives for joining. After which players would come flocking to their door. Headhunt a few powerful experts on top of that, and the War God Tribe would quickly grow to become a powerful guild.
With the crowd finally quiet, Nie Yan looked around at everyone. “Now, I think everyone still here should be planning to stay and help develop the War God Tribe. As long as you have the guild’s back, we’ll have yours. I’m sure you’ve already discussed the issue of salary, so I’ll just focus on the guild’s development.”
When he mentioned the word development, the few remaining whispered conversations died down as everyone’s attention locked onto Nie Yan. If the situation was still as dire as Little Su had described, with the guild bottlenecked by a lack of gold, they would be pretty disgruntled. If the War God Tribe didn’t have enough ingame currency, and couldn’t even provide their elites with the most basic requirement of mounts, what development was there to speak of?
“Regarding the development of the War God Tribe, we’ll be providing an initial investment of 60,000 gold to outfit everyone with mounts, followed by a weekly injection of 30,000 gold. Furthermore, we’ll be allying with Asskickers United over in Calore. Each and every one of you will also receive a 5% discount when purchasing items at any branch of the Starry Night Potion Shop. The War God Tribe is currently recruiting many gaming organizations. I predict we’ll have 10 to 20 more top ranked gaming organizations in the country joining us a little further down the line. Our current goal is to capture two or three strongholds from the guilds under the Tuoba Family’s control within a week,” Nie Yan announced. He appeared cool, confident, and at ease while speaking on the podium.
After hearing his words, everyone in the audience, including Icewind and the other large gaming organization heads, were in shock. The War God Tribe was actually so filthy rich, directly investing 60,000 gold and an additional 30,000 gold every week on top of that? This was unthinkable. Except for a handful of the most wealthy consortiums, no one could gather so much gold! The War God Tribe had found a secure channel to acquire gold? This was a major surprise, but even though they had some doubts in their hearts, they knew that there was no reason for such a wealthy company to lie to them. Having already spent so much money, ruining their reputation would only bring unnecessary harm.
With so much funding, not to mention after recruiting so many gaming organizations, it would be a joke to think the War God Tribe would fail! Zhang Song would definitely regret the words he spoke today!
The previous contempt and disinterest in their eyes vanished, replaced instead by earnest attention. To gather so much gold in such a short amount of time, this person’s connections were definitely shocking. This wasn’t something that could be bought with money! The War God Tribe had just been established, but it had already formed an alliance with the mighty Asskickers United, not to mention receiving a deal from the owner of the Starry Night Potion Shop. These were all major powerhouses! They couldn’t help but wonder what sort of background this company possessed.
No one had the nerve to cause any more trouble. Thinking back to what just happened a moment ago, everyone broke into a cold sweat. Which large financial group or company didn’t possess powerful influences behind the scenes? If they had really kicked up a ruckus a minute ago, that would’ve been like courting death!
Nie Yan didn’t overlook anything while explaining the War God Tribe’s development plan. He calmly swept his gaze over the audience as if he were a god high atop the clouds looking down on the world. Then again, considering his status in Conviction, he was genuinely qualified to look down on these people!