The actions of the guardian Mingdu surprised not only the players, but also the soldiers on the city walls.

To hand over the military power of the entire Eastern Kingdom to an adventurer?

Have there ever been such humble indigenous people?

Why do people bring their families from their own territories to come here? Isn't it to make a name for themselves in this new realm? But can they achieve that success on their own? Of course not!

It's thanks to adventurers from new realms!

As long as the adventurers in this realm are strong enough, they can issue quests to help with various tasks. This is the essence of doing business.

But now? The guardian Mingdu is actually putting the cart before the horse and handing over the initiative to an adventurer?

Of the more than ten thousand realms in the Spirit Ruins, only a few empires were founded by pioneers who, due to their overwhelming strength, seized the initiative and established powerful empires.

But absolutely none of them were given this initiative willingly from the start. Never!

Even the Black Dragon Clan paid a heavy price to gain the initiative from the Human King. That's how the Black Dragon Empire came to be.

But what makes a level 18 adventurer so special?

The commanders atop the city walls were all eager to say something, but none dared to speak due to the resolute attitude of the guardian, Mingdu. Legion Commander Nok couldn't hold back any longer; he burrowed forward like a maggot, about to raise his head and say a few words, but a glare from the city lord of Jinling City silenced him.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Hao pushed the two tokens back directly.

"Are you kidding me? I'm an adventurer, and you want me to be the leader of the Temple Guild and the Inner Temple Guild? I still need to go to dungeons to fight monsters and level up."

Upon instantly leveling up to 30, Jiang Hao's smile broadened considerably. No sooner had he finished speaking than a flash of white light appeared around him, and his figure vanished from the city wall. At the same time, the 240,000 players in the plaza also disappeared.

"Dear adventurer, welcome to Novice Village No. 006 in the Magic City District."

A friendly notification sounded, and Jiang Hao saw that he was standing where he had stood when he first entered the Spirit Ruins. All the other players had returned to where they had left the starting village; some were leveling up in the wild, others were fighting monsters in dungeons. Only he had returned to his starting village. Now, with only Jiang Hao there, the place seemed somewhat empty. Jiang Hao suddenly remembered that his summoned creatures, Little Skeleton and Lislin, were still in the Northern Ice Plains. However, perhaps because of the great distance, Jiang Hao couldn't sense them, let alone command them to come to the starting village.

"Server-wide announcement: A player has been detected to have reached level 30. The Lingxu server has opened a player level leaderboard. You can view the top 10 players and their levels on the leaderboard at any time."

Jiang Hao suddenly felt dizzy and inexplicably nauseous. He knew this was a sign of mental exhaustion, forcing him to quit the game. Without even checking the leaderboard, he immediately removed his helmet. The game screen disappeared, and what appeared before him was his familiar rented apartment.

Jiang Hao found himself lying on his bed, in the same position he had been in when he first entered the game. Only, the ground beneath him was hard and damp, with a musty smell that made his already groggy mind even more foggy. As his eyelids closed, darkness completely enveloped him. Jiang Hao was too weak to think about anything else and finally fell into a deep sleep. A short while later, deafening snoring echoed from the basement.

Having gone without food and sleep for days and nights, Jiang Hao's energy was at its limit. He woke up in the middle of the night, feeling unbearably hungry and thirsty. He gulped down several mouthfuls of water, boiled water, and ate two bowls of instant noodles, but still felt sleepy. He vaguely saw that it was still dark and fell asleep again. It wasn't until the afternoon of the next day that Jiang Hao was awakened by the sound of cars outside his window. He stretched lazily, only then realizing how sticky and uncomfortable his body felt.

The few days of gaming felt like a dream. Jiang Hao took out his phone and found over a dozen missed calls and over a dozen unread text messages. Opening the missed calls, he discovered they were all spam calls. Not a single one was from a friend.

Jiang Hao gave a self-deprecating laugh.

"I reckon even if I suddenly died in the basement, no one would know."

Jiang Hao opened his text messages again, and immediately felt wide awake. His phone contained over a dozen messages; aside from one phone bill reminder, the rest were all bank transfer notifications. The last one was for a transfer of 3 million. Jiang Hao remembered that due to his private deal with the Ice Queen, the equipment was originally worth 2.6 million. Later, due to a misunderstanding, the Ice Queen only gave him 3 million.

Seeing that his bank card balance had reached 5.963 million yuan, Jiang Hao instantly sobered up.

Before entering the game, he clearly remembered that he had just paid three months' rent, totaling 900 yuan, leaving him with only 1001 yuan in his bank account. He remembered it so clearly because the number was very similar to the title of a fairy tale book.

Now, Jiang Hao had 5.9 million yuan in his bank account, something he never dared to dream of.

Jiang Hao jumped out of bed, changed his clothes, and took a shower. He still couldn't believe it was real. He held the last text message on his phone and read it over and over again.

Opening the basement door, a wave of heat hit him, unbearably stifling. It was four or five in the afternoon, the sun was still blazing, and there were hardly any people on the street. Turning a corner, he found himself in a bustling food street, and Jiang Hao habitually headed towards his most familiar ramen shop.

As Jiang Hao walked past a rather upscale grilled fish restaurant, it suddenly occurred to him that now that he had money, why not treat himself to something nice?

His glass door was closed, but the lights were on inside, so he probably has air conditioning, right?

Let's go!

In the cool, spacious hall, besides Jiang Hao, there were five or six other young people sitting at a table. They were dressed fashionably, clearly from well-off families. After placing the order, Jiang Hao sat on the soft sofa and habitually took out his phone. He then heard the young people at the next table discussing the Lingxu game.

"Of course we should join Ice and Snow World! Of the other four guilds, which one is even remotely decent?"

The speaker was a young girl. Jiang Hao glanced over at her, then quickly looked away. The girl looked young, with a pure and fair complexion, but dressed in a trendy way, with her long, highlighted hair tied in a ponytail.

"That's just our No. 006 newbie village. My friend told me that in the other newbie villages, the top four guilds are still the same few. Once everyone leaves the newbie village, it's questionable whether Ice and Snow World can maintain its current status."

"I don't care, I just love the Lord of Hell, and I'm going to join the Ice and Snow World."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Hao, who had only wanted to hear some interesting stories, suddenly became alert.

Do you like the Lord of Hell?

What does this have to do with joining the ice and snow world?