--- Masssive Update and The Pledge of Loyalty

After leaving the crowd of players, Chris continued on his journey towards the east, where the forest was located. While walking, he was checking out the forums and having different kinds of emotions on his face as he scrolled down.

It was a notice of the game update that will be effective in more than two weeks.

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[<Update Notice!> by HM.

Effective at January 30

-The World Arena

*Participate in the Arena and win exclusive rewards!

-The Infinity Tower

*Conquer the tower floors and obtain the right to each floor's ownership!

-World Ranking System

*Highest overall level.

*Highest level for each class(Warrior type, Archer type, Mage type, Summoner type, Assassin type, Priest type, Special type).

*Best equipment for each type.

*Highest attribute(Special) for each type.

*World Arena will have the "Kings of the Ring" Ranking.

*Infinity Tower will have "Rulers of the Floors" Ranking.

*Pets Ranking

*Mounts Ranking

*Warpets Ranking

*And many more!

*All of the players have no option to hide their names.

*A weekly reward will be given to the top 10,000 players (1, 2-10, 11-100, 101-1,000, and 1,001-10,000).

-Pet and Mount System

*Each empire and kingdom capital will now have a Beast Tamer Association building.

*Chance of dropping pet or mount eggs from non-humanoid monsters.

*Each player can have a maximum of 1(5 for tamer/summoner class) pet/mount summoned at a time and a maximum of 5(50 for tamer class) pet/mount storage. (Summoned creatures from spells will never count as it has it's own system to follow).

-Follower System

*Players can now hire neutral NPCs all over the world of Gaia for an average price(A very low chance of betrayal).

*Humanoid monsters can now be hired as mercenary for a small price but will ask for loot cuts(An average chance of betrayal and high chance if it has a bad nature).

*Can now hire mercenaries in the tavern at a higher price. (Will never betray the player.)

*Each player's maximum follower count will depend on special attribute: Charm.

-Drop Chance changes

*Normal Monsters will now drop only 1 skillbook.(Random, Any except Ulti.).

*Boss Monsters will now drop only 2 skillbooks.(Random, Any except Ulti.).

*Skillbook drop chance: 0.00001% -> 0.0001%.

*Skillbooks that dropped will always be common ranked - (F).

-Combiner Combinations improvements

*Combining skillbooks will now cost 50% of the original.

-Skills/Spells Upgrade improvement

*Upgrading a masterered Skills/Spells will now only cost 25% of it's original price.

-And many more!]

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"Tch! I feel like the reason for that skillbook drop was because of me." Chris had a frown and a slightly worried expression on his face.

He wasn't actually the reason for the changes, as those beings really never cared about his luck. The very reason was because of the miniscule amount of skillbooks that were currently in circulation. Also, the current player count was already 3/12 of Gilona's overall population, so a little bit of change should be made.

"They won't confiscate the skillbooks that I already obtained, right?"

It was the reason for his worry, as he had already amassed nearly half a million skillbooks that range from C to A rank that he deposited in his guild's treasury, and nearly three-quarters of those books are ranked B. If he hadn't used combination, he would have more than ten million skillbooks already, but he didn't like weak and useless skills.

"Well, whatever!" In the end, he just shrugged his shoulders and then continued to walk at a faster pace after closing the forums. "It will only lessen my skillbook gains by about 90%, but those pet eggs... hehe!"

For most people, that was a big deal, but for him, it really doesn't matter. Although the 90% loss was an extremely huge problem, he has incredible, god-ranked talent to help him. He will just find a better spot where monsters cluster in a small area and let his heavenly spells go. Sadly, he hasn't found something better than the labyrinth.

There are also barely any members of his guild that have actually managed to redeem any skillbooks or other stuff in the guild's treasury, even though his member count is already at five million. Only he and his higher-ups can freely enjoy those things, but they're not abusing them.

Just one ranked C item alone will cost them about ten thousand contribution points, and that's already ten times cheaper than all the other guilds. Although he can make it almost free for his members, it might make them lazy. He just priced it high enough to make them work harder, be loyal enough, and have an all-time high morale.

There were also the pet and mount eggs, which lessened his dissatisfaction about the skillbook loss. As one might know, only he and his higher-ups are the only ones who have one, and they are still in the hatching process. Having a pet will make any dungeon run easier, and having a mount will make the travel time shorter.

As Chris was nearing his destination, he looked back and gazed in a certain direction.

"Till when are you going to follow me, Miss Sonja Petrov?"

'!!!'

He knew that the female redhead that he just beat in a duel cast a tracking skill on him after their duel, just before he went invisible. The redhead, on the other hand, was surprised as she was called by her full name.

A moment later, a curvaceous silhouette slowly emerged out of thin air, and a redhead girl in a black tight-fitting outfit appeared. Her incredible proportions were accentuated by her very outfit, and even those monks will definitely gulp loudly and start fantasizing after seeing such an incredible sight.

Sonja then walked slowly towards Chris, just a few meters away from him, and asked in a slightly stuttering tone.

"H-how did the L-lord know that I-I was f-following him?"

She has a surprised expression on her face as she asks him. That tracking ability was part of her SS+-ranked talent, and someone actually noticed it.

"Well, I have my ways..." Chris smirked.

Although he currently has an ordinary face, his playful smirk is enough to make her heart skip a beat. God knows what will happen if she sees the real deal.

"So, why are you following me?" He then became serious. "Didn't I tell you that I'd give you further notice later?"

"I... I'm sorry...My lord..." Sonja bowed. "It's also nice to finally meet Lord Despair!"

"!!!"

Chris was surprised that he was called by his real IGN despite being in his polymorph with an ordinary face, but suddenly calmed down after realizing that once someone added you to their friend list, your real IGN would be shown.

Sonja, after seeing his real IGN, had her heart beating incredibly fast. She was one of his avid fans after all, and being added to his friend list was a great honor for her.

[Polymorph]! *Shhh...*

"!!!"

Since only the two of them are here, Chris undid his polymorph and returned to his real face. Sonja, on the other hand, was dumbfounded after seeing such a handsome man in front of her. Her heartbeat was now on overdrive, and she just stared at him in a daze while her face was completely red.

'Haaah... My prince...' is what's on her mind right now.

But she woke up from her fantasies when she received a notification that Chris was officially inviting her to his guild, and she instantly accepted it. She doesn't want to make a bad impression on her lord after all.

[Guild Notice: Dark Star has joined the guild!]

After hearing the guild notification, the guild members welcomed her warmly and very energetically, as the one who invited her was their leader, which he never did again after inviting his close friends. It just means that the person he invited was quite special.

As a side note, your face will be used as an avatar in the guild chat and member information. So some specific female members who are extremely close to Chris actually frowned upon seeing such a beauty being invited by him, while the boys, especially the teen-agers, cheered loudly but didn't have any perverted thoughts as their boss probably had dibs on her already.

[Guild Notice: Guild Leader Despair has appointed Dark Star as an Officer!]

And that thought was completely cemented after their boss gave her a very high position. Such a position was everyone's dream, but no one questioned it and instead congratulated her. On the other hand, she was gobsmacked because the position that was assigned to her was insanely valuable.

Chris then walked towards her and offered a handshake.

"All is cool... and I welcome you to my guild!"

She then accepted the handshake without breaking eye contact, and she's still as red as a tomato. Too bad Chris couldn't see it, as only her eyes can be seen.

"T-thank you, My Lord!"

"Errr... you don't have to be tense, and you can just call me Chris." He was smiling wryly.

Every single person that met him for the first time has always been like this, but he couldn't get used to it.

"That, I cannot do, My Lord." Sonja looked at him solemnly. "I lost to my lord fair and square, so..."

*Thump!*

"!!!"

Sonja kneeled in front of him on one knee as if a knight were kneeling on his king.

'This... what now?' It startled Chris.

"...from here on out, my body and soul are yours to use however you want, and I'll be by your side, protecting your life with mine until the day I die!" She pledged all that in one breath while looking solemnly at him.

"Say what!?"

Without the two noticing, a wisp of light escaped from Sonja's chest and flew right through Chris's. It was a similar thing that happened with him and a certain silver-haired girl years back when they made a promise to each other.

'What the hell!?' Chris was speechless while his mouth was twitching nonstop.

He couldn't fathom what was wrong with this redhead in front of him until it dawned on him about the bet he proposed. He seriously wanted to smack his head on the nearby tree because of his stupidity, but in the end, he just smiled wryly. There's no use crying over spilled milk after all.

He also can't talk his way out of this, as he has seen a lot of this type of person before, so he can only accept it with a deep sigh.

"I-is My Lord dissatisfied with me?" Sonja asked.

Her tone suddenly changed from that of a dignified girl to that of a caring wife, earning another wry smile from Chris. Everything was moving too fast. He met the girl for barely a day, but since it's come to this, he just decided to man up and be responsible for it.

"Nope." He gave his hand to her to help her stand up. "But are you sure about this?"

"T-thank you, My Lord... and yes, I am very sure!"

"Haaah... okay."

"And besides, my grandma told me that once I found the man for myself, I should do whatever means necessary to be with him..." She mumbled where only she could hear.

"Huh?"

"N-nothing...My Lord..."

"Alright, tell me first about your family and your relationship with them." He became serious and asked her an important thing.

"Eh?"

"Since you are "MINE" now, I wanted you to be close to me, and I don't want my people to become my weaknesses just because they are too far away from me, so I wanted to know if you are close to your family or not."

"I-I, Y-yes, A-alright, M-my Lord!"

Her stuttering causes another twitch in Chris's mouth. He swears that he also saw steam coming out of her head.

She then told him about her relationship with her family. How she was now living alone far from them because of the forced marriage her parents arranged with a neighboring kingdom's good-for-nothing prince, and how they threatened her that if she didn't come back, her 12-year-old little sister would be the one to replace her.

"I see... this is quite troublesome..." Chris was stroking his chin with his left hand while thinking of a way to solve her crisis. Meanwhile, his right hand was patting her head to calm her down, as she was oozing with murderous intent when she was narrating her story.

"Don't worry, my Lord, I already have a plan for bringing my little sister with me!"

"Oh?"

She then told him her plan and how she has two strong maids working undercover in that mansion who are taking care of her little sister.

After the plan was finalized, Sonja invited her two maids to the guild, and Chris told Sonja and his maids to take as many items as they wanted from the treasury to help on their endeavor, and he even gave Sonja powerful equipment and potions that permanently increased her attributes to further increase her success rate.

Her heart warmed because her lord was very generous to her, and she vowed in her heart that she would be a very dutiful woman for him once they finally met. She also didn't mind that her lord seems to have many women by his side, as she thinks that's normal for a great man.

Chris wished her good luck before she logged out, promising to come to Glaze City with her sister and maids within a week, and he didn't doubt that she would fail, as aside from the overpowered items he gave her, she's extremely talented in combat, making her a force to be reckoned with.

"Pheeew. Now that it's over, I guess I should be on my way as well."

Stretching his hands, he finally faced the forest that was covered in mist, ready to start his new adventure.