Chapter 51: The Power of Compound Interest
None of that mattered anymore. He was now less than three hundred thousand Gold Sovereigns away from his one-million goal.
As long as he could get a Guild Creation Order to drop, he’d likely be able to bridge the gap.
The spawn mechanics for the Alpha Twin-Headed Direwolf were similar to those of the Blood-Eyed Dragon Turtle. If he ground through the mobs enough times, it was bound to appear.
The moment the Twin-Headed Direwolves respawned, Liam didn't hesitate to strike.
Arrows whistled through the air in a constant stream. Ordinary Twin-Headed Direwolves went down in a single shot. Only the Black Iron Grade variants could withstand six of Liam’s arrows, but with his current Attack Speed, they still collapsed in under five seconds.
The cycle repeated.
After five consecutive clears, Liam hadn't stacked much HP, but a significant amount of Skill Tomes and equipment had dropped.
[System: Your slaughter of the Twin-Headed Direwolves has incensed the Alpha Twin-Headed Direwolf. It is about to descend!]
Liam smirked. The Alpha Twin-Headed Direwolf was finally showing its face.
Alpha Twin-Headed Direwolf (Bronze)
Level: 50
HP: 6,990,000 / 6,990,000
Attack: 19,180
Skills: Twin-Headed Ray, Mana Burst Barrage, Phantom Sky-Claw, Direwolf's Howl, Nine-Fold Shadow Claws, Crimson Eye Bloodlust, Lone Wolf Instinct, Illusory Doppelganger, Blood Demon Curse, Unstoppable, Berserk.
Nearly seven million HP. Its attributes were mediocre at best.
Liam didn't care. He raised his hand, letting a torrent of arrows fly.
"Awoo—!"
The Alpha Twin-Headed Direwolf let out a furious roar. It couldn't comprehend how a mere ant of a human had the audacity to provoke a Level 50 boss like itself.
Both its heads snapped open their maws simultaneously, and twin beams of energy erupted from within.
Boom!
The rays slammed into Liam.
-23,985.
-23,999.
Two massive damage numbers popped up over Liam’s head.
The beast had actually shaved off nearly 1.5% of Liam’s HP. This was nothing short of attempted murder!
Even the Alpha Twin-Headed Direwolf seemed stunned by its own "massive damage," freezing in place for a moment.
Liam raised his hand again.
Twelve arrows per second.
Zip, zip, zip...
The arrows blurred through the air. In a single second, over two and a half million of the Alpha Twin-Headed Direwolf's HP vanished.
"Awoo—!"
Seeing the damage Liam dealt, the Alpha Twin-Headed Direwolf let out a terrified yelp. It immediately tucked its tail between its legs, looking every bit like a weak, helpless puppy.
Liam had no intention of stopping. He raised his hand once more.
Realizing that playing dead wouldn't work, the Alpha Twin-Headed Direwolf roared in desperation. It activated Unstoppable and Berserk simultaneously.
At the same time, a Curse mark appeared above Liam’s head.
[System: You have been afflicted by the Alpha Twin-Headed Direwolf’s Curse. Attack -75%, Magic Power -75%. Duration: 5 minutes.]
Liam raised an eyebrow. That's it?
Since the Curse was a negative status effect, the Purifying Jade Amulet reduced its potency by 85%. The actual effect was a flat 500-point drop to both his Magic Power and Attack.
But what did a drop in Attack or Magic Power have to do with him? Even if the Curse reduced his Attack to zero, the impact on his actual combat effectiveness would be negligible.
Zip, zip, zip...
Two seconds later, the Alpha Twin-Headed Direwolf collapsed.
It had tried its best to resist, but the power gap was simply too vast.
[System: You have achieved the World First kill of the Alpha Twin-Headed Direwolf. A Server-Wide Broadcast is about to commence. Would you like to hide your name?]
"No."
[Server-Wide Broadcast: Congratulations to player Frost Monarch for achieving the World First kill of the Alpha Twin-Headed Direwolf! We hope all players continue their hard work!]
[Server-Wide Broadcast: Congratulations to player Frost Monarch for achieving the World First kill of the Alpha Twin-Headed Direwolf! We hope all players continue their hard work!]
...
Liam was used to the broadcasts by now. Ever since the general player base completed their First Advancement, World Firsts for bosses weren't as rare as they used to be. Liam generally only targeted high-level mobs; he hadn't even touched most of the bosses below Level 40.
Next came the fan-favorite part: looting the corpse.
[System: You have obtained Equipment +11.]
[System: You have obtained Skill Tome +5.]
[System: You have obtained Guild Creation Order +1.]
[System: You have obtained AP +50.]
[System: You have obtained Dungeon Key Scroll +1.]
...
The notifications chimed in rapid succession. Liam’s haul was massive, but the most important item was undoubtedly the Guild Creation Order. That had been his primary goal for farming here.
With that in mind, Liam shared the item's attributes into the group chat.
Frost Monarch: @Everyone. Guild Creation Order. Starting bid is 100,000 Gold Sovereigns. Any takers?
Ezekiel Asura: Zeke here. As expected of the Frost Monarch, getting a Guild Creation Order so quickly. Asura Guild bids 150,000.
Dreamfrost: Oh, come on, don't fight with me, boys. I’ll bid 200,000 Gold Sovereigns.
Berserk: ...300,000.
Dreamfrost: ...
Ezekiel Asura: The Blade, you son of a .
Fenrir Pagoda: ...Ezekiel, calm down. But The Blade, where did you get so many Gold Sovereigns? You just spent 500,000, and now you’re dropping another 300,000?
Berserk: Cough. I have a lot of Gold-Miners.
Ezekiel Asura: I don’t believe a few thousand Gold-Miners can pull in that much. Is there some secret farming spot? Don't hog it all to yourself, share the wealth.
Fenrir Pagoda: Everyone has their secrets. We at The Pagoda have 300,000, but I don't feel the Guild Creation Order is worth that much anymore. Give us another two weeks and we’ll probably drop one ourselves.
Fenrir Pagoda’s point was fair. Now that they had reached their First Advancement, their elite teams would hit Level 30 within two weeks. The desperation for a Guild Creation Order had lessened.
The real issue was the price. 300,000 Gold Sovereigns was a fortune this early in the game when currency was scarce. Very few people could produce that much liquid capital.
In the end, Berserk secured the Guild Creation Order for 300,000 Gold Sovereigns.
With the sale finalized, Liam was only 100,000 Gold Sovereigns away from his million. He had over 100,000 in his own pocket, 500,000 from the Lord's Heart, and 300,000 from the Order—totaling over 900,000.
Frost Monarch: I’m putting up some Skill Tomes next. Same format: auction.
Liam had collected quite a few Skill Tomes from farming the Level 50 Twin-Headed Direwolves. Since they were World First drops, the rates were excellent.
Frost Monarch: Fifty Skill Tomes in total. Package deal for 200,000 Gold Sovereigns.
Berserk: Deal. I'll take them all.
Dreamfrost: ...
Ezekiel Asura: ...
Fenrir Pagoda: ...
Dreamfrost: The Blade, seriously. Just send me the guide on how you're farming gold.
Ezekiel Asura: The Divine Wolf, Frost—it's time we team up. If we let this guy keep going, we won't have any room to breathe.
Fenrir Pagoda: The Blade, don't force our hand. Just cough up the gold farming guide. You've made enough already.
Liam knew exactly what Berserk’s deal was. The backers behind the Berserker Guild were closely tied to The War Division. In his past life, it was revealed midway through the game that the Berserker Guild was being operated by The Regency.
As for the Gold Sovereigns...
At least a million soldiers from The Grand Xia had entered the game, and that was a conservative estimate. By the time the game merged with reality, that number had exceeded ten million. Those were just the public figures; the actual numbers were likely even more staggering.
So, one million? Even if Berserk produced ten million Gold Sovereigns, Liam wouldn't be surprised.
[Server-Wide Broadcast: Congratulations to player Berserk for becoming the second to establish a guild! Reward: AP +100. We hope all players continue their hard work!]
[Server-Wide Broadcast: Congratulations to player Berserk for becoming the second to establish a guild! Reward: AP +100. We hope all players continue their hard work!]
...
Berserk established his guild almost immediately. Liam didn't mind. He now had 1.1 million Gold Sovereigns in his possession—enough to turn in the Quest Scroll.
He submitted the quest.
[System: You have completed the quest. Reward: Blessing of the Gods +1, AP +50.]
Another AP reward. Liam had now accumulated 1,100 AP. He still wasn't in a hurry to use them; his current attributes were more than sufficient. He’d save them for a critical moment when he needed a specific stat boost.
"Use Blessing of the Gods."
[System: You have used Blessing of the Gods...]
[System: The God of Fortune is bestowing a Divine Blessing upon you...]
[System: You have obtained Passive: Compound Interest.]
Passive: Compound Interest
Rank: Cannot be upgraded.
Effect: The currency in your possession increases by 1% daily.
Cost: None.
Cooldown: None.
Mastery: None.
Liam stared at the description of Compound Interest, stunned. At first glance, it didn't seem that powerful...
Wait.
Holy sht, I'm going to be the richest man alive!
Whether it was the early, middle, or late game, Gold Sovereigns remained precious. With enough gold, you could buy almost anything: shops in the Capital City, legendary weapons, and even peerages in The Astral Kingdom.
Twilight of the Gods was essentially a second world. If you had money, everything was easier.
Thinking this through, Liam sent a message to the group.
Frost Monarch: If any of you have extra Gold Sovereigns, you can deposit them with me. You can withdraw them whenever you want. Daily interest is 0.1%.
Ezekiel Asura: Is this a Ponzi scheme?
Dreamfrost: You're acting weird. It’s not easy for me to save up gold. 0.1% daily? That sounds terrifying. From what I know, any investment with over 10% annual returns is high-risk.
Liam didn't bother arguing. He simply posted the description of the Compound Interest passive into the chat.
Ezekiel Asura: Holy sht!! What kind of god-tier skill is that?
Dreamfrost: Wait... you're making a killing. You get 1% and you're only giving us 0.1%?
Frost Monarch: Didn't you just say it sounded like a scam?
Dreamfrost: I didn't! Not me, you misheard. I have absolute faith in your character.
Liam chuckled but didn't reply.
Berserk: 0.1% is a bit low. How about we split the interest 50/50?
"It's 0.1%. Take it or leave it."
Even though he knew Berserk represented The Regency, Liam wasn't going to budge. He wouldn't go out of his way to provoke them, but he wasn't going to give away his profits for free either. After all, earning gold wasn't exactly a walk in the park.
Ezekiel Asura: 50/50 is unrealistic. How about 0.3%?
Frost Monarch: I’m going into a dungeon. Think it over. 0.1%, flexible withdrawals anytime.
He closed the chat.
Liam pulled out the Dungeon Key Scroll and sent a message to Barney. Based on his knowledge, a Level 50 dungeon couldn't be entered solo; he needed a party. Better to benefit his own people than some strangers.
After the message was sent, he activated the scroll.
[System: You have unlocked the dungeon 【The Blighted Direwolf】.]
Liam raised an eyebrow and stepped into the portal.
[System: You have successfully opened the 【Den of the Blighted Wolf】. A Server-Wide Broadcast is about to commence. Would you like to hide your name?]
"No."
[Server-Wide Broadcast: Congratulations to player Frost Monarch for successfully opening the 【Den of the Blighted Wolf】 dungeon! Reward: AP +50, Gold Sovereigns +100. We hope all players continue their hard work!]
...
Liam selected Hell Difficulty.
Just like his experience at Black-Water Lake, the system blocked him from entering alone due to the level gap. He sighed and stepped back out to wait for Barney.
To his surprise, the first person to show up wasn't Barney. It was Berserk.
Berserk grinned when he saw Liam. "Can we talk about that interest rate again? We can deposit tens of millions of Gold Sovereigns. You'd make a fortune."
Liam shook his head. "No deal. I'm barely making anything as it is. It's not easy for me."
Berserk nearly choked on his words but didn't press further. "Fine. I'll think about it."
With that, Berserk led his team into the dungeon.
Liam felt a slight headache coming on. Berserk had already awakened a Hidden Class and was geared in a full set of unlimited-level Gold Grade equipment. If he was just running the dungeon on Normal, he had a high chance of clearing it.
Barney finally arrived as Berserk’s team disappeared.
"Liam, sorry. I was fighting a boss and it was almost dead. It would have been a waste to leave."
Liam nodded. "Let’s go."
With Barney in the party, Liam immediately selected Hell Difficulty. As for the race for First Clear, Liam wasn't worried. For him, even Hell Difficulty was a walkover.
In Hell Difficulty, the weakest mobs were Elite Grade Twin-Headed Direwolves with 50,000 HP.
It didn't matter. They were still one-shot kills.
When they encountered the Black Iron Grade variants, the Hell Difficulty buffed them to over two million HP.
Still irrelevant. They died in a single second. If Liam landed a critical hit, it was even faster.
Barney followed closely behind. He had assumed that with his current tankiness, he would be a huge help.
But it turned out... he didn't even need to lift a finger. Liam was simply steamrolling everything in his path.
When they reached the Bronze Grade Alpha Twin-Headed Direwolf, it boasted over thirty million HP. It finally had a bit of presence.
But that was about it.
The advance reading chapters on have reached 12chapters. Thank you for reading!
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