This situation only improved after his account reached number one on the national server. By then, he had money, and he could afford to toss away a jianbing guozi after just one bite.

　　Although it was tough, Ethan Carter missed that period of his life—it was a treasure life had given him.

　　Suddenly, a red email appeared before his eyes. This email popped up directly from within the system, making Ethan Carter almost think it was a system notification:

　　Hello, Mr. What Are You Looking At. Let me introduce myself first: I am the head of the California Fist Club in the United States. I watched your two matches and was deeply impressed. One can't help but marvel at how geniuses are never in short supply in this world, especially in China.

　　Fist Club enjoys worldwide fame precisely because we are willing to learn from others and embrace geniuses from different cultures and races. We have always ranked first on the club honor roll for slaying demons, because we never forget our original intention: the purpose of improving ourselves is to ensure the survival of the human race. As long as there are people, the tower stands.

　　We now sincerely invite you to come to Fist Club to exchange skills in League of Legends. If it is inconvenient for you, please contact us, and we will do our utmost to clear any obstacles for your trip to California.

　　Best regards.

　　Your best friend,

　　Fist Club

　　George

　　“Fist Club? Same name as Riot Games? Sounds pretty awesome. Even though the world is different now, maybe fate still has its ties here and there. But going to California... I'll pass for now.” If others knew this was what Ethan Carter was thinking, they would probably want to strangle him. It’s just that Ethan Carter didn’t yet understand what such an invitation represented.

　　However, the phrase “as long as there are people, the tower stands” did touch Ethan Carter's heart. People of his generation seemed to have forgotten the meaning of that phrase. He always believed that “surrender” was the most dehumanizing feature Riot Games ever introduced. Fast food era, fast food humanity.

　　In this life, he would still stick to his principles.

　　……

　　“Will he come?” In California, USA, a calm voice sounded in the sunlight. A handsome young Black man was holding a laptop, sending out an email specially marked in red at the cost of 50,000 League coins.

　　“I believe he will. No one can resist the temptation of an invitation from the number one club. If he can, I’ll marry him.” The speaker had a head of fiery red hair like Katarina, and her voice was pleasant and melodious.

Chapter 10: The World of Conglomerates

　　Ethan Carter spent some time browsing through the items in the League of Legends platform store and searched for some related posts, basically understanding the importance of the League of Legends platform to humanity.

　　Unless you are a genius among geniuses who can comprehend things on your own, if you want to acquire skills, you need to purchase soul fragments from the League of Legends platform. The poor buy low-grade soul fragments for one million, the middle class buy mid-grade soul fragments for five million, and the rich buy high-grade soul fragments for ten million. The higher the grade, the higher the success rate. To comprehend a hero’s ultimate skill, you need a complete soul, which costs a whopping one hundred million! To comprehend universal skills like “Flash,” “Heal,” or “Smite,” you need spatial fragments, recovery fragments, or judgment fragments, which cost as much as one billion League coins. Some say that, given equal talent, League coins to some extent represent a person’s strength, and that’s absolutely true. Even top conglomerates can’t afford to let several geniuses possess godlike skills like Flash and Heal, because the chance of comprehending these skills is even lower. There are fewer than a hundred people in the world who have Flash.

　　Low-grade soul fragments only give about a 10% average success rate for comprehending hero skills, mid-grade 50%, and high-grade 80%. The poor even call low-grade soul fragments the “commoner’s lottery ticket.” And that’s just for comprehending skills—skills themselves have levels, from 1 to 5, and each level up requires another soul fragment.

　　As a result, many basic-level bronze soldiers in the military don’t even have any skills, just physical fitness. Of course, the military also rewards outstanding soldiers with soul fragments every year, so joining the military seems to be the only option for commoners. This is a natural class divide.

　　So-called social class isn’t about calling yourself a noble; class is naturally formed within the rules of society.

　　How many people in the world can make money from streaming like Ethan Carter? You could count them on one hand. Who can just casually invent a new hero technique?

　　Civilian geniuses? All the civilian geniuses have attached themselves to conglomerates. Almost all the well-known clubs, big and small, rely on conglomerates to survive. The conglomerates recruit clubs and civilian geniuses to increase their influence over society as a whole.

　　If you think the two sides are independent and complement each other, you’re wrong. The conglomerates control the lifeblood of the geniuses and the clubs. And the The Green Family that Alice Green belongs to is the The Green Clan, one of the top seven conglomerates in the country. This world is a world of conglomerates.

　　And the money pouring into the platform automatically flows back out, building the entire world’s basic social security system, including pensions for disabled veterans, benefits for the disabled, medical security, retirement security, unemployment security, maternity security, and so on. The Soul Hall is like the main god of the whole world—flawless and impossible to deceive.