Harmony Brings Wealth's expression turned serious upon hearing the two organization names from Lin Yu's mouth.

"The Marauders and the Free Alliance? Explain in detail, what exactly happened!"

Lin Yu nodded.

"My last dungeon was of the Puzzle type, so the competition wasn't too intense."

"After entering the dungeon, we exchanged identities and introduced ourselves. Two players seemed somewhat odd to me, but I didn't pay special attention at the time."

"It wasn't until near the end, due to the 'puzzle' factor, that they revealed their true identities."

"One was 'Heavenly Artisan' from the Marauders!"

Harmony Brings Wealth looked enlightened. "Ah, that super rookie who just joined the Marauders. He's got some real skills... You can find him on the bounty board if you check the forum."

He continued calmly, "Was he targeting you? If I remember correctly, he's from the northwest region, so no need to worry too much!"

Lin Yu shook his head. "Not exactly... On the contrary, he was relatively friendly toward me."

"It was the other one from the Free Alliance who seemed hostile toward me."

Harmony Brings Wealth's expression turned serious again.

"The Free Alliance? It's quite rare for you to encounter them!"

"To be honest, when it comes to the Free Alliance... there's a high probability they're imposters!"

Lin Yu shook his head again.

"That shouldn't be the case, because she didn't claim to be from the Free Alliance herself—I confirmed it through my own means..."

"But why do you say they're probably imposters?"

Harmony Brings Wealth waved his hand. "First describe her characteristics!"

"A girl, not too tall, wearing sunglasses and a windbreaker. Her profession seems to be Thief, with a rather unpleasant personality, and her accent sounded like a local from Jiangcheng..."

After Lin Yu finished, Harmony Brings Wealth had a realization.

"You encountered 'Master Thief Anian'."

Hearing this name, Lin Yu also had an epiphany.

"Anian... Unforgotten... So that's what her ID meant."

He thought to himself while maintaining a confused expression.

"Is she very famous?"

"Extremely famous. Before being purged from the Free Alliance forum, her ID 'Anian' was quite notorious... Basically, anyone who participated in a dungeon with her would lose one or two items to her—and those items wouldn't return even after leaving the dungeon!"

Hearing this, Lin Yu was shocked.

"Her 'skill' can permanently steal items?"

Normally, items stolen by a Thief's skill in a dungeon would automatically return to their original owners after the dungeon ended.

If used in reality, the items would return at the start of the next dungeon.

While non-"item" objects could be stolen permanently, a Thief's ability wasn't supposed to work permanently on "items"!

Previously in the dungeon, Unforgotten... or rather "Anian" had shown him the items she stole from Heavenly Artisan. Lin Yu had thought she just wanted to play with them or see their effects.

He never imagined she actually had the ability to permanently steal others' items!

Harmony Brings Wealth said gravely, "Her profession is indeed Thief, but she probably achieved this through some special item..."

"The forum's evaluation of her was: 'There are many thieves, but only one Master Thief'!"

After hearing this, Lin Yu appeared even more worried.

"That impressive? So if she and her organization are targeting me, am I doomed?"

Harmony Brings Wealth shook his head.

"Don't worry too much. Although the 'Master Thief' has a nasty personality... so far, she rarely actively kills anyone!"

"She prefers teasing people and playing pranks. While being targeted by her might bring trouble, it usually doesn't pose a life-threatening danger."

After a pause, he added,

"As for the Free Alliance, you have even less to worry about!"

"Although this organization is 'notorious,' it has very few members... Currently, only nine confirmed members exist!"

Lin Yu was stunned.

"So few? How many members do normal organizations usually have?"

Seeing Lin Yu's confusion, Harmony Brings Wealth patiently explained,

"The largest is the major organization Order, with probably over five hundred to nearly a thousand members! Almost every sizable city has more than ten Order members!"

"Next are several nationally known organizations, each with a few hundred members—larger ones with four to five hundred, smaller ones one to two hundred... The Marauders, Psychological Society, Player Mutual Aid Association, Night Watchmen, etc., are all about this size."

"Regionally famous organizations are generally small to medium-sized. For example, my Jiang'an Hall in Jiangcheng has about a hundred members."

"Finally, there are various small organizations... but they need at least twenty to thirty members to be widely recognized as an organization by players."

"The Free Alliance is the only exception!"

After hearing this, Lin Yu thought for a moment before asking,

"Then why is the Free Alliance an exception?"

"Because their admission standard requires successful Promotion," Harmony Brings Wealth said calmly. "Although there are only nine members now, each one is a very famous 'powerhouse'... just like 'Master Thief Anian'!"

Hearing this, Lin Yu felt secretly pleased.

The topic had finally reached Promotion—he had been wondering how to naturally steer the conversation there.

Now that Harmony Brings Wealth brought it up himself, it was perfect for Lin Yu.

So Lin Yu put on a slightly confused expression and asked,

"Promotion? Didn't you say before that the standard for measuring strength is the number of dungeons cleared?"

"Many forum posts mention Promotion... What exactly is it?"

Harmony Brings Wealth looked at Lin Yu, picked up his tea, and took a slow sip.

"Correct, the number of 'dungeons cleared' is an important standard for judging a player's strength... but that's only relative to players of the 'same tier'."

"Having experienced two dungeons and obtained so many 'items,' you must have noticed... when receiving item rewards, the Settlement Space will notify you that you've received 'non-exclusive item' rewards, right?"

"Promotion means that before a dungeon begins, you'll receive a prompt to activate the 'Promotion Trial.' During that dungeon... you'll get some additional mission requirements beyond the normal clearance conditions."

"These extra missions are optional... but whether you complete them or not, the dungeon's difficulty will increase significantly for you. Even compared to other players in the same dungeon, yours will be exceptionally harder!"

"However, if you survive this dungeon and complete those additional missions... then congratulations, you've achieved Promotion, transforming from an ordinary player into a 'First-Tier' player!"

"The difference comes from the rewards—you'll receive an 'exclusive item' that essentially unlocks a second 'professional ability' for your class!"

"Moreover, this new exclusive item often synergizes well with your original class ability, creating an effect greater than the sum of its parts!"

"Therefore, there exists a qualitative gap between players who have achieved Promotion and those who haven't!"