(Price's POV)
-Price, you just got promoted, congratulations!- Li said with a jovial smile, but this didn't make Price happy in the slightest, much less the pair beside him.
-Sir... may I ask what I did wrong?- Price asked with a completely forced smile. He didn't believe for a second that this "promotion" was actually a good thing, not when it came from Li.
-Relax, kid, I'm serious. Here are the admission papers. Your two lackeys are coming with you to help you too.- Li almost wanted to laugh at Price, but he restrained himself, handing him the papers.
Price looked at the papers in Li's hands and hesitated a little before taking them, touching them as if there were a bomb inside. He slowly opened them until he finally saw the contents. Neither Bane nor Oscar were bothered by Li's title, they considered themselves brothers and, in fact, saw Price as their leader.
-Manager of the Death Scream Sanctuary?- Price asked, confused after reading a bit.
-Exactly, you're going to manage an entire city. There was intense fighting for that position, but the president himself gave you the job after you fought hard for it.- Li patted his shoulder lightly, lying without changing his expression.
He couldn't let Price know that nobody wanted this "thankless task".
Of course, this was only based on their opinion, if done right, Price could actually gain a huge advantage as sanctuary manager.
Price was somewhere between confused and euphoric, his current thought wasn't the excitement of being promoted, but rather the excitement of being far away from Li!
At that moment, a chicken ran faster than anyone and jumped, flapping its wings, landing on Price's shoulder. - And me! I'm responsible for protecting this boy, so I have to go too!
Price glared angrily at the chicken, but didn't refute it, he would get his revenge later.
Behind him, Bane looked relieved, and Oscar almost started dancing right there, his face beaming with an incredibly excited smile.
-Hahaha, we can finally get out of here!- Oscar exclaimed joyfully.
-Oh? You don't like my training?- Li asked, keeping a smile on her face. This sent a chill down Oscar's spine, causing him to shut his mouth and take a step back, looking at the ground with great interest.
Of course he wanted to get out of there, not just him, but all the recruits! Although the rewards were good, Li's training was still too harsh after all, if he could choose, he would rather not continue with this torture, I mean, training.
Seeing the trio's excitement, Li nodded contentedly, ignoring the little bastard Oscar. This was much easier than expected, Melissa would surely "reward" him later. This made Li very happy, and he laughed happily, giving Price a few more pats on the shoulder.
In the end, everyone was satisfied, except for the other recruits who learned of the promotion, they looked at Price, Bane, and Oscar with envy.
Even Crimson was looked at with envy, which made the chicken puff out his chest. He thought becoming a chicken was bad enough, but being forced to do physical training like a chicken, and on top of that a Mage, was truly torture.
Oscar, seeing that Li wasn't going to force him to train, looked at the papers in Price's hands and picked up a list of necessary buildings with interest.
-So, betting houses, training rooms, a fighting arena, a mission hall, various shops and auctions... is this really a sanctuary?- Oscar asked, confused.
Li shrugged, it was all Ringo's idea. He practically seemed to want to create a trading city, only the name was Sanctuary.
This was also kept secret by them, if those employees who refused to manage the sanctuary knew, they might change their minds very quickly, but Melissa did this on purpose, after all, for that kind of person who only sees profits and doesn't care about the big picture, it's good that they don't have a chance to progress easily.
There were also many brainwashed employees, but because of this their minds were limited, and Melissa recruited several other employees with different talents.
Letting someone who had been brainwashed be a manager was stupid, unless it was done by a powerful psychic, in which case the psychic could completely change a person's personality and that person wouldn't even suspect it.
Ringo could do something more brutal, but it would take too long and he wasn't as good as a psychic, in the end, he would work hard for a mediocre result, it wasn't worth it.
If it were to create a mob like Black Spider and Invisible Demon, that would be fine, but to change someone's perspective on life without affecting their mind? Sorry, Ringo couldn't do that.
As for Price? Ringo had high expectations for him, so Melissa decided to help him out a little.
//-//
On the other side, several guilds in Andrea, such as the Throne of Gods guild, were the most enthusiastic players about the event. They weren't like casual players, and although Hell had many jobs and good things, having a city for players would greatly facilitate their progress.
Just like the group with Black Phantom, they also received a mission to build the sanctuary, it was practically another city for players.
This one may have come later, which was a shame, but the rewards offered were even greater than those of the Black Phantom Sanctuary.
The players were unaware that Ringo had made a point of investigating the Black Phantom sanctuary and increasing the reward accordingly.
Why? Why not? He knew exactly how to irritate Han Xiao, the more childish the argument, the more irritated he would become.
Why annoy Han Xiao? Because it was fun! Seeing him unhappy makes Ringo happy, that's enough.
Of course, Ringo didn't let Han find out on his own, instead, he sent a message with a comparison chart between his sanctuary and Han Xiao's.
Han Xiao called him almost instantly, but Ringo just ignored him. Answering the call was a trap, Han was very good at irritating others. If Ringo answered, he could end up turning the tables, so he ignored him, imagining the man's face full of anger and frustration.
Sure, the Ringo who came to Aquamarine was the clone with Emma who traveled specifically to help with Melissa and Li's evolution, plus he still needed to help the chicken Crimson adapt to a chicken body from time to time, he just took advantage of the opportune moment to mess with Han.
In any case, Jupiter, the leader of the Throne of Gods guild, called a meeting among the guild members and quickly began his journey straight to the location of the new sanctuary, other guild leaders and casual players made the same decision.
Even some players from outside the region started going to Andrea, and Melissa didn't stop them. The sanctuary was closer to other continents, near the coast. This was done precisely to allow for circulation, since the place would be used for entertainment and for the mercenary company, a privileged location would be more centrally located in the world.
Andrea was located in the south, so the sanctuary was situated in the far north of Hell's territory. This not only made the sanctuary a barrier in case of invasion from other countries, but also kept the unruly players as far away as possible from the important areas of Hell.
In the end, everyone left happy, except perhaps the Dark Net, which soon found itself completely losing control over this sanctuary. Bennet was one of the few who didn't mind, this type of political dispute had little to do with his objective.
To save the world, or rather, to save humanity.