Reincarnation Of The Strongest Sword God - Chapter 241

Chapter 241: Envious Wealth

All the players present at the auction venue were awestruck by Shi Feng’s bid of 20 Gold Coins.

Players who could attend the Blackwing Auction all had extraordinary backgrounds. Even so, none of them could afford such a price.

Although plenty of the players present were provided funding by their own Guilds, that only amounted to 10 Gold or so. Even the wealthiest Guild present had brought only a little more than 20 Gold. Hence, nobody present would be willing to go all-out just for a pair of Level 15 daggers, even if they were weapons of supreme quality. Although these daggers could instantly turn an expert Assassin into an apex Assassin, they would not be of much help to the Guild in the long run.

Even if the players present could afford to buy these daggers, they would not spend 20 Gold to do so.

After the auctioneer slammed his hammer for the third time, everyone in the audience started laughing maniacally.

“What a stupid guy! He actually spent 20 Gold for those two daggers! I wonder who he is trying to impress, for him to willingly part with so much money?”

“Hahaha! At least I have one less competitor now!”

“Twenty Gold! What a rich tycoon!”

While ignoring everyone’s mockery, Shi Feng paid 20 Gold to the Auction House and received the two daggers. He then shifted his focus to the next item up for bid.

[Purgatory’s Shadow] (One-handed Sword, Dark-Gold Rank)

Level 20 (Can be upgraded twice)

Attack +273

Strength+30, Agility +25, Endurance +22

Attack Speed +2

20% chance to cause 300% damage.

10% chance to reduce damage dealt by target by 20%. Effect not stackable.

Additional Skill-

Purgatory Power: When activated, increases Attack Speed by 100% and damage dealt by 30% for 15 seconds.

Cooldown: 2 minutes

In God’s Domain, weapons and equipment could be categorized into two types: those that could be upgraded, and those that could not be upgraded.

A majority of the weapons and equipment available belonged to the latter category, and only a scant few items could be upgraded. Normally, only items of Epic rank or above could grow along with a player’s level, and very rarely would any item below Epic rank possess such a capability.

It can be upgraded twice? As expected of one of the treasures of the Blackwing Auction House. If this item could be upgraded to Level 30, it can still be of use even when players reach Level 45. Shi Feng was very satisfied with this weapon. He could equip the Purgatory’s Shadow once he reached Level 20, and he would not need to waste time looking for a new weapon.

Not only was the Purgatory’s Shadow suited to Swordsmen, it was also suitable for Shield Warriors and Guardian Knights. If an MT equipped this sword, not only would their maximum HP greatly increase, their damage output would similarly increase by a huge margin; they could aggro monsters much more firmly. However, the most important feature of this sword was its ability to reduce a target’s damage-dealing by 20%. This weapon was practically made to counter Boss monsters. If used inside a Team Dungeon, its effect would be decisive.

Compared to the two Fine-Gold ranked daggers from before, the Dark-Gold ranked Purgatory’s Shadow would be of much greater help to a Guild.

However, the minimum price for the Purgatory’s Shadow was likewise greater.

Many Guilds were overwhelmed by the sword’s starting bid of 15 Gold. With the funds they possessed, they could only sit on the sidelines in this auction.

“This sword belongs to me! Everyone else, don’t even think of trying to compete against me for it!”

“Who the fuck are you? We, World Dominators, have taken a liking to this sword! Whoever dares to bid will be looking for trouble with us!”

“Do you guys think you are the only first-rate Guild present in this auction? Our Guild is the Bloodthirsty War God! Anyone who dares to bid will be dead meat!”

……

Although the price of the Purgatory’s Shadow was high, the competition for it was still intense. It made one truly wonder just what price it would achieve in this auction. Hence, the many first-rate Guilds present started sending warnings to the other Guilds in the hopes of buying the Purgatory’s Shadow at a cheap price.

“Idiots.” Shi Feng helplessly shook his head at their actions.

Did these people think that the ones buying items here were limited only to players? Although the minimum bid for the Purgatory’s Shadow was 15 Gold, according to Shi Feng’s understanding, one needed to bid at least 25 Gold in order to secure the item. Otherwise, it would be bought out by NPCs. Did these first-rate Guilds think that, by voicing threats, they could take advantage of loopholes in the system?

Soon after, the bidding for the Purgatory’s Shadow started, and the price for the sword soared continuously.

In a blink of an eye, the price of the sword had already reached 20 Gold.

The ones currently bidding for the sword consisted of only first-rate Guilds. Second-rate and third-rate Guilds did not have the funds to take part in this auction at all. They could only look on in silence, unwillingness filling their hearts.

Meanwhile, Joking Scholar similarly felt helpless as he sat in the front row of the auction. If he had not been swindled by Lone Tyrant, he could have bought those two daggers already and also this Purgatory’s Shadow, while the other Guilds could only watch as he did so.

After the bidding continued for several minutes, the price for the Purgatory’s Shadow finally stopped increasing.

At 24 Gold 30 Silvers, this price was very low where Level 20 Dark-Gold Weapons were concerned. Not to mention, this was also a Dark-Gold Weapon that could be upgraded.

“Hahaha! This Purgatory’s Shadow belongs to me now!” Seeing that nobody else was outbidding him, the Berserker from World Dominators cheered.

The members of other Guilds could only look at this Berserker with unwillingness in their eyes. In an auction, players competed with one another in terms of wealth, not influence.

However, immediately after the auctioneer slammed his hammer for the second time, someone broke the silence and made a bid. Moreover, it wasn’t just limited to a single person.

“Twenty-five Gold.”

“Twenty-six Gold.

“This sword looks finely made. I can add it to my collection. I’ll bid 30 Gold Coins.”

At this moment, a nobleman of Blackwing City placed an astonishing bid, stupefying all the Guilds present.

“Why are the NPCs joining the bid as well?”

This question baffled many of those present in this auction. If NPCs were going to bid against them too, how were they supposed to compete? That man was an NPC! A noble of Blackwing City at that! How were players supposed to outbid him?

“Damn! This Auction House is clearly trying to toy around with us! They’re only letting us players compete for the non-precious items!”

“If I had known this would happen, I would’ve bought those two Fine-Gold ranked daggers from before!”

“That person was truly lucky. He managed to so easily obtain those two daggers.”

Many of the players present started regretting their previous inaction. They never thought that the Auction House would play such a card.

“Thirty-one Gold.”

At this moment, a familiar, indifferent voice resounded in the auction hall. Every player in the venue immediately turned their gazes toward the origin of this indifferent voice. However, their eyes were immediately filled with both shock and disbelief when they discovered the owner of the voice.

The person who called out this bid was none other than Shi Feng, the person who previously bought the two Fine-Gold ranked daggers for 20 Gold. Now, he had once again placed a bid of 31 Gold.

“How much money does this fellow have?” Everyone started making speculations that Shi Feng might have robbed an NPC noble. Otherwise, how could he have so much money?

After Shi Feng shouted his bid of 31 Gold, the great noble immediately countered with a bid of 32 Gold.

However, Shi Feng did not fall behind as he followed up with 33 Gold.

As both parties took turns placing bids, the price of the Purgatory’s Shadow gradually increased. Every player witnessing this scene had their mouths gaping wide in shock.

Finally, Shi Feng secured the Purgatory’s Shadow at a price of 39 Gold.

Following which, several rounds of auction passed without much commotion. Compared to Shi Feng’s 39 Gold purchase, the other auctioned items were sold at much lower prices.

Although another treasure appeared during the auction, it was a Dark-Gold ranked leather armor that failed to pique Shi Feng’s interest. In the end, the equipment was bought by an NPC for 32 Gold.

When the auction reached its peak, the bid for the third treasure finally started.

This third treasure could also be considered the grand finale of this auction. Just the starting bid of this item was already set at 30 Gold, causing every Guild present to give up on bidding for it. After all, they already knew that, in order to secure this item, they would have to bid at least 50 Gold or above. Unless several first-rate Guilds pooled their funds together, it would be an impossible feat. However, the notion of forming such an alliance was simply unimaginable for the many first-rate Guilds present.

Lending money to other Guilds at this point in time would be no different from lending money to an enemy. Even if they did join together and purchased the item, there would only be one copy of the item. How were they supposed to split it? Hence, it was impossible for any of the Guilds present to form an alliance.

Chapter 242: Arclight Shield

Originally, the Guilds attending the Blackwing Auction had already given up on bidding for the final item. They merely stayed to take a look at how high the price of the final item would reach.

The minimum price for the item was 30 Gold. None of the Guilds present were that flush with fluid funds.

However, the moment their sights landed on the final item, they instantly had a change of heart.

The reason being, the item displayed on stage was simply too important to a Guild. The final item was neither weapon nor equipment. Instead, it was a Forging Design. If the Forging Design was for a normal weapon or equipment, nobody would have paid any attention to it.

However, the Forging Design being auctioned was for the Arclight Shield, a Level 15 Fine-Gold ranked shield. If they could produce this item, it would definitely provide a huge improvement for the MTs in their Guilds. This shield was especially useful during this crucial period of the game.

With more and more First Clears of 10-man and 20-man Dungeons taken, the various large Guilds had already started challenging 50-man Team Dungeons. However, there was one problem that vexed them without end: their MTs could not even tank the first Boss of the Dungeon.

If their MTs couldn’t even survive the attacks of the Boss, how were they supposed to raid it?

However, if a handful of MTs equipped this Arclight Shield, raiding the Dungeon would become a much easier endeavor.

“This won’t do! Our Guild needs to get this item! I have to contact the Guild Leader immediately!”

“This shield is simply too good! I must have it!”

The representatives of the first-rate Guilds present had, at the first moment, contacted their respective Guild Leaders and reported this matter to them. The answer these representatives received was also one of confirmation. They were told to obtain the Forging Design at all costs. These representatives were also told to contact the other second-rate and third-rate Guilds present at the auction venue, to seek their cooperation. In return, the first-rate Guilds would produce the appropriate amount of Arclight Shields for them based on the amount of money they contributed.

Originally, the second-rate and third-rate Guilds present had long since given up on bidding for the Arclight Shield Forging Design. After all, they could not even afford the minimum price of the item. Now that they were given new hope, they would naturally be more than willing to lend their help.

One… Two… Three… More and more second-rate and third-rate Guilds started allying themselves with first-rate Guilds. They pooled together all the funds they had, and very quickly, plenty of first-rate Guilds had managed to collect a total sum of around 50 Gold. They then proceeded to place bids one after another.

The price of the Arclight Shield Forging Design consistently rose.

Starting from the minimum bid of 30 Gold, its price quickly increased to 51 Gold.

The Guilds strived very hard to outbid each other. As soon as they received the funds of another Guild, they would immediately call out the highest bid they could afford. They were deeply afraid that, if they gave the other Guilds too much time, the other Guilds would be able to obtain even more funds.

Just as these Guilds were competing against one another with a fiery passion…

“Sixty Gold.” Shi Feng immediately raised the bid by nine Gold.

Shi Feng did not wish to waste too much time on this auction. In any case, it was a must for him to obtain this Arclight Shield Forging Design.

“Why do you have so much money?”

“Just who is this brat?”

Previously, they had already been shocked by Shi Feng’s wealth. Now, however, they started feeling frightened.

After spending 59 Gold to purchase three weapons, Shi Feng was still able to place a bid of 60 Gold. If they had not been aware of the fact that players were not allowed to place a bid without having the corresponding amount of money, they would definitely have thought that Shi Feng was just joking around.

Faced with the pressure of 60 Gold, two first-rate Guilds immediately joined hands to place a new bid. Meanwhile, the Guild to take the lead in this alliance was World Dominators. The representative for this Guild yelled out his bid of 61 Gold right away.

“Seventy Gold.” Shi Feng no longer wished to play around in these muddied waters. Otherwise, he would have to pointlessly waste a lot of money.

“Seventy-one Gold!”

“Eighty Gold.”

“Eighty-one Gold!”

“Ninety Gold.”

…

Before even a minute had passed, the price of the Arclight Shield Forging Design had already reached a staggering 106 Gold. If such an amount was converted into Credits, that would be more than 1 million Credits. If one took into account the inflation that would occur due to the volume purchase of Coins, then the value of 106 Gold Coins might even reach 2 million Credits.

Two million Credits just for a Forging Design. If a normal player were to learn about this, they would definitely consider Shi Feng insane, a spendthrift that had nowhere to spend his money.

However, Shi Feng felt that the Arclight Shield Forging Design was worth such an amount of money. After all, the value of this Forging Design would only grow higher once it entered his hands.

“Damn! To actually run out of money at this crucial time!”

“We definitely can’t fall short at this final moment! Who else has money?!”

Overlord War Bear, the Berserker from World Dominators, started panicking. His Guild Leader had already given him the command to obtain the Forging Design at all costs. However, even after joining hands with another first-rate Guild and more than a dozen second-rate and third-rate Guilds, they still could not outbid a single Shi Feng. War Bear was truly at a loss on what to do now.

He had even secretly contacted Shi Feng before. As long as Shi Feng was willing to let World Dominators have the Forging Design, he was willing to compensate Shi Feng with a million Credits. Yet, the price of the Forging Design still continued to increase higher and higher. He was already nearing the brink of insanity right now.

“I can lend you a hand. I have 18 Gold with me here. This should be enough to suppress that Black Flame.” Joking Scholar walked over to War Bear at this moment.

“What conditions do you have? I advise you to give up if they are too outrageous. I won’t hand over this Forging Design no matter what.”

“Of course I know this. My conditions are simple; after World Dominators obtains the Forging Design, just give me the Arclight Shield that I deserve. In addition, I also wish for you guys to take care of that Black Flame. He is affiliated with the Star-Moon Kingdom, and I know World Dominators has quite a number of members there. Dealing with Black Flame should be no problem for you all.” Aside from his hatred for Lone Tyrant, Joking Scholar’s remaining hatred was targeted at Black Flame. Unfortunately, Joking Scholar did not know that both persons were actually one.

“Fine, I’ll agree to your conditions. In truth, without needing your mention, World Dominators would similarly take care of him.” Overlord War Bear revealed a faint smile.

The two of them quickly reached an agreement. Joking Scholar then traded all his Gold Coins over to Overlord War Bear.

Just as the auctioneer was about to slam the hammer for the second time, Overlord War Bear hurriedly shouted, “108 Gold!”

Shi Feng sent a glance at Joking Scholar and Overlord War Bear, a sneer on his face. He couldn’t help but shake his head as he indifferently said, “115 Gold.”

“One hundred twenty-one Gold! I don’t believe that I can’t surpass you even after I bid everything I have!” Although Overlord War Bear did not know Shi Feng’s bottom line, the increment on his latest bid was much lower than usual; Shi Feng was definitely reaching his limit. Hence, War Bear immediately added six Gold to the bid. Shi Feng definitely could not take out so much money. “Brat, you’re a hundred years too early if you think you can compete against me!”

“This is your bottom line?” Shi Feng calmly smiled. “One hundred thirty-five Gold!”

He increased the bid by 14 Gold in a single go. World Dominators would not be able to fill up this gap even if they included another second-rate Guild into their little alliance. As for recruiting a first-rate Guild, that was an extremely difficult matter to achieve.

“One hundred thirty-five Gold! How could this be possible! I must be dreaming! How could he possibly have so much money?! Isn’t he just an independent player?!” Joking Scholar was immediately dumbfounded when he heard Shi Feng’s bid.

As for Overlord War Bear standing beside Joking Scholar, he was fervently contacting other Guilds to form an alliance. However, although he received a favorable reply from another first-rate Guild, the condition set by that Guild was for them to receive the Forging Design instead of World Dominators. Naturally, Overlord War Bear refused this condition. Yet the few additional third-rate Guilds he managed to recruit barely had any money on them. Even after summing up all the additional Coins he received, Overlord War Bear did not have the right to shout out a bid at all.

“One hundred thirty-five Gold going once!”

“One hundred thirty-five Gold going twice!”

……

Even when the auctioneer’s hammer landed for the second time, not a single Guild present was able to place a new bid. They watched blankly as the auction proceeded toward its end, powerless to do anything about it.

“One hundred thirty-five Gold going thrice!”

“Let us congratulate Mister Black Flame for obtaining this Arclight Shield Forging Design!”

Following which, a beautiful hostess brought the Forging Design to Shi Feng. After Shi Feng paid the 135 Gold to the Auction House, the hostess similarly handed the Forging Design over to Shi Feng.

After officially receiving the Arclight Shield Forging Design, Shi Feng wondered just what sort of Attributes the shield itself possessed. With such a thought in mind, Shi Feng tapped on the item and took a look at its description. Immediately, his lips curled up slightly in a smile.

Chapter 243: Bountiful Harvest

Overlord War Bear and Joking Scholar felt great resentment for Shi Feng when they saw his smile; they thought Shi Feng was mocking them and looking at them in contempt.

In reality, Shi Feng’s smile was purely due to his joy.

However, compared to when Overlord War Bear and Joking Scholar first met Shi Feng, they dared not underestimate him any longer. On the contrary, their eyes were filled with vigilance now.

Shi Feng showed everyone that he was more than capable of spending such a large amount of Coins. If someone were to say that Shi Feng did not possess any major power supporting him from behind, not even a ghost would believe them. The only question that remained was, what sort of power backed Shi Feng?

Since War Bear failed to complete the task given to him by his Guild Leader, his expression looked extremely bad right now. However, he was simply helpless in this matter.

One hundred thirty-five Gold. Even if every member of World Dominators pooled their Coins together, they still wouldn’t be able to collect such an amount. It was only natural that he lost the bid.

Compared to Overlord War Bear, Joking Scholar was in a much more tragic situation.

First, he had ruined the matter of the business transaction. Now, he didn’t even manage to buy a single item in the Blackwing Auction. What kind of explanation was he supposed to give his Guild Leader, Glorious Echo?

However, Shi Feng was very grateful for Joking Scholar. It was only thanks to Joking Scholar’s greed that he managed to obtain so many forging materials.

As for the reason why he had smiled, it was simply because of the materials needed to produce the Arclight Shield. The main ingredients for producing it were Mithril Ore and Gold Ore. Though difficult, Shi Feng could still find ways to obtain the Mithril Ore. For Gold Ore, however, it was simply too rare in the Star-Moon Kingdom, not to mention White River City. However, Twilight Echo had given him quite an amount of them, enough for him to make plenty of Arclight Shields. As for the other material needed, it was the Magic Crystals that were dropped by the Bosses of Team Dungeons with a 100% drop rate. This item was not particularly precious. However, due to the amount dropped each time being low, it would be difficult for Shi Feng to mass-produce the Arclight Shield.

Furthermore, the Attributes of the Arclight Shield had far surpassed Shi Feng’s original estimation, and he could already envision the popularity of the shield itself.

[Arclight Shield] (Shield, Fine-Gold Rank)

Level 15

Equipment Requirement: Strength 90

Defense +460

Block Rate: 37%

Strength +15, Endurance +25

Evasion +8

Additional Passive Skill 1-

Sound of Life: Every attack received will grant user a stack of Power of Life, increasing maximum HP by 3% and received healing by 1% for 1 minute. Maximum of 10 stacks.

Additional Passive Skill 2-

Refraction: Triggers once every 30 seconds. Becomes immune to one attack.

Leaving aside the shield’s high Defense and Block Rate, just the passive skills Sound of Life and Refraction would greatly increase an MT’s durability. Not to mention, the Basic Attributes of the Shield itself were also very good. The Arclight Shield was definitely an excellent piece of equipment.

If a 50-man team could have all their MTs equipped with the Arclight Shield, they might have a very high chance of successfully raiding the Normal Mode of a 50-man Team Dungeon right now.

It should be about time for me to return. Shi Feng was very satisfied with his trip to Blackwing City this time. He had reaped a bountiful harvest.

First was the 50 million Credit agreement. Next was his successful recruitment of Aqua Rose. Now, he had even obtained the Forging Design for the Arclight Shield. Most importantly, Aqua Rose was also going to bring her 100-plus elite players over. Their addition had instantly increased his Guild’s overall strength by a large margin. The next problem he had to deal with was how he would integrate these new members into his Guild.

“Over a hundred people, huh? Aqua Rose has truly given me a huge help this time. Now, I won’t have to worry about lacking members to raid the Demon’s Castle.” Shi Feng felt that it would not be enough just to have a Workshop. He needed to make some additional preparations and initiate his follow-up plans.

After Shi Feng departed from the Blackwing Auction House, he immediately mailed 300 Gold to Aqua Rose. He then returned to White River City, intending to await Aqua Rose and her allies’ arrival at the Starstreak Trading Firm.

However, the process of mailing money to other players usually took between 30 minutes to an hour.

Hence, Shi Feng decided to first head to the Adventurer’s Association.

Currently, none of the Guilds in White River City had their own Guild Residence yet. Members of various Guilds had to visit the Adventurer’s Association in order to receive Guild Quests, which they complete to increase Guild Reputation and strengthen the Guild. Hence, the Adventurer’s Association had become the second most-popular location in White River City.

Just as Shi Feng was about to enter the Adventurer’s Association, his communicator rang.

“It can’t be this quick, right?” At first, Shi Feng thought Aqua Rose was contacting him. However, when he saw that the caller ID displayed actually belonged to Gentle Snow, he couldn’t help but be shocked. “Don’t tell me it’s about the Mana Armor Kits again?”

Previously, Shi Feng had used quite a number of Basic Mana Armor Kits to trade for a few Advanced Whetstone Recipes with Gentle Snow. He had then let Cream Cocoa and Melancholic Smile learn the recipes. During this period of time, both girls had already been promoted to Intermediate Forging Apprentices, and were currently in the midst of striving to become Advanced Forging Apprentices.

Shi Feng couldn’t help but admit that both of them were indeed future Master Forgers. Both of them improved very quickly. In addition, the more they forged, the higher their success rate. Currently, they already had a 20% success rate at producing the Advanced Whetstones. When compared to the forgers of other Guilds, the two girls were ahead by leaps and bounds. In a few more days, the two of them could very well be promoted to Advanced Forging Apprentices, becoming a true help to him.

“Miss Snow, did you find some new Advanced Whetstone Recipes?” Shi Feng asked.

“Master Black Flame, how could you hide such an important matter from me? I feel hurt.” Gentle Snow faintly smiled.

“Hide? Miss Snow, you must be joking. I am a very superficial person that can easily be seen through. How could I possibly hide anything from you?” Shi Feng joked.

“Alright, stop acting. You placed yourself in the limelight at the Blackwing Auction House just now, and the news of this matter has long since spread throughout the various first-rate Guilds. Each and every one of them wishes to seek cooperation with you and purchase those Arclight Shields from you.” Gentle Snow smiled as she continued, “Aren’t we old friends? Shouldn’t you sell them to me for a cheap price?”

“Your information gathering is truly efficient, Miss Snow.” Shi Feng smiled bitterly as he said, “I can sell a few Arclight Shields to you. However, you must pay for them using Coins, or exchange for them using the Magic Crystals you obtained from Team Dungeons.”

“Magic Crystals? Although the Bosses drop them every time, the amount they drop is minimal, yet these Magic Crystals possess a very wide range of uses. Let’s just use Gold Coins. I wonder how much you are charging for them, Master Black Flame?”

“Alright, then. Since it is for you, Miss Snow, I won’t rip you off. As the Arclight Shield is a Fine-Gold ranked shield, I imagine that you know how precious the materials needed to produce it are. Moreover, the success rate of producing it is also very low. I’ll sell you each Arclight Shield for 25 Gold, no negotiations.” Shi Feng had already expected Gentle Snow to decline exchanging the shields for Magic Crystals. However, it was much better for him if she used Gold Coins to buy them.

“Twenty-five Gold?! Even if I took the fluid funds of every Ouroboros branch in the Star-Moon Kingdom, I still won’t have that much money! Can’t we trade using Credits? How about 500,000 for each shield?” Gentle Snow was astonished by the Arclight Shield’s price. However, she similarly knew of the difficulty of crafting a Fine-Gold ranked shield. If it were up to their forgers to make the shield, the cost might not even stop at just 25 Gold. Yet, it was clearly impossible for them to fork out 25 Gold to purchase an Arclight Shield, unless of course, they decided to stop the Guild’s development. Still, halting development at this stage of the game would put the Guild into a decline, so they absolutely could not stop their development.

Currently, all the major Guilds were attempting to obtain the First Clear of a 50-man Team Dungeon, while the Arclight Shield was a must-have item for them to get a lead over the other Guilds.

Faced with two difficult choices, Gentle Snow could only bitterly smile as she was caught in indecision.

“Alright, then. I’ll exchange using Magic Crystals,” Gentle Snow helplessly said. Ouroboros, a grand and mighty first-rate Guild, was actually poorer than a single independent player. Black Flame was truly a monster.

“That’s fine as well. The exchange ratio would be 1-to-100. I’ll notify you after I manage to produce them.”

Shi Feng smiled as he disconnected the call. He then proceeded to enter the Adventurer’s Association.

Chapter 244: Establishing the Guild

At this moment, there was a crowd of players surrounding the Quest Board in the lobby of the Adventurer’s Association.

Although the EXP awarded by these quests were negligible, the Guild Reputation they gave was very high. Moreover, each player was limited to only three Guild Quests a day.

A Guild could be promoted after it accumulated a set amount of Reputation, and the members of the Guild would receive much better Guild benefits such as bonus EXP when doing Quests.

“Excuse me, sir, what can I do for you today?” the blue-haired lady standing behind the reception counter asked Shi Feng, a smile on her face.

“I wish to establish a Guild,” Shi Feng said.

“Understood. Please fill up this application form.” The receptionist passed Shi Feng a Guild application form.

It was very easy for players to establish a Guild in God’s Domain. Players only needed to decide on a name for their Guild and designate a Guild Emblem. They were then required to purchase a Guild Certificate for 10 Copper Coins and have at least seven independent players place their signatures on it. When all these things were completed, the Guild would then be officially established.

Newly founded Guilds would all start out as 1-Star Guilds, and the only benefit available for the members of a 1-Star Guild were the availability of the Guild Quests.

“Guild name, is it?” Shi Feng hesitated as he looked at the blank space meant for the Guild’s name, wondering what he should write in exactly. After giving it some thought, he decided to stick with using the Zero Wing Workshop’s name. In any case, along with the Guild’s development and growing fame, his identity would sooner or later be leaked. “Let’s name it Zero Wing, then.”

Shi Feng then designed the Guild Emblem in the form of six silver wings.

After purchasing the Guild Certificate, Shi Feng sent Fire Dance and the others a Guild Signature invitation.

—

Meanwhile, at the Black Wind Canyon, a Level 20 to Level 25 map, Fire Dance and the others were currently grinding on Level 22 Demonic Bats. They had come to this place under the suggestion of Shi Feng.

The reason Shi Feng had recommended it was because the Demonic Bats here belonged to the type of monsters that had high Attack but low HP. Most importantly, the monsters here were concentrated in number. Normally, the Demonic Bats would appear in groups of seven or eight, and any solo independent player would easily find themselves losing their lives here. However, to a party that had amazing AOE damage, this place was a holy land for leveling up.

In the case of Fire Dance’s party, Fire Dance herself was responsible for luring the monsters, as she had the highest Movement Speed out of everyone in the party. She would lure over a hundred monsters every time, and afterward, the Guardian Knight, Cola, would activate Protection Blessing and cast Devotion, a group aggro skill, to gather the monsters into one location. Meanwhile, Violet Cloud would be responsible for healing Cola, while Blackie would get rid of all the monsters in a single blow.

Throughout this process, everyone’s cooperation and grasp of timing was perfect.

If other players were to witness this scene, they would definitely be shocked into a daze.

Presently, the average level of players was only at Level 12 or so, while professional players would be around Level 13. Even the number one player on White River City’s Ranking List, Lone Tyrant, was only at Level 15 right now.

Yet, Fire Dance and the others had long since passed Level 15. Even the lowest leveled player in the party, the Oracle, Gluttonous Mouse, was Level 18. Meanwhile, Blackie, who was the highest leveled player in the party, was currently at 45% of Level 19. Although there was only a gap of one level between the two players, the difference in EXP could allow a player to directly rise from Level 0 all the way up to Level 15.

“Huh? What is this message?”

While taking a break, Fire Dance and the others simultaneously received a Guild Signature invitation. As long as they agreed to the invitation, they would immediately become official members of the Guild after the Guild was established.

Originally, Fire Dance and the others had intended to immediately reject the invitation. However, their hands unanimously paused when they saw the name of the Guild.

“Zero Wing? Isn’t that the name of our Workshop?” Blackie asked, curious.

“This is an invitation sent by Big Brother Ye Feng! Big Brother Ye Feng is finally going to establish the Guild!” Violet Cloud said excitedly when she noticed that one of the names inscribed on the Guild Certificate was Ye Feng. She then said with joy, “Great! We will have our own Guild in the future!”

“Isn’t it still too early to establish the Guild? We only have so few members right now. Brother Feng had also said before that we are lacking in members, and that we need to wait for some time before establishing the Guild. Did something happen?”

“Don’t bother about this for now. We should put our signatures first.” Fire Dance was similarly surprised by Shi Feng’s sudden decision. However, since Shi Feng had decided to do so, he must have had his own considerations. Moreover, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to establish the Guild ahead of time.

Immediately, everyone in the party clicked “Agree.”

They then received a system notification.

System: Congratulations on becoming a member of Zero Wing!

System: This is your first time joining a Guild. Activating Guild System.

—

On the other side, Shi Feng had already left the Adventurer’s Association, returning to the Starstreak Trading Firm.

At this moment, the Starstreak Trading Firm was packed with players. The trading firm was currently the most lively location in White River City, second to none.

“Hey, bro, I see that you’re here to buy those Basic Mana Armor Kits, right? With so many people lining up here, you would need to wait at least a week before you can even get one for yourself. However, I have here a way to help you save your time, letting you jump the queue to buy the Mana Armor Kits in advance.” A thinly built Swordsman walked around the entrance of the Starstreak Trading Firm, chatting up the players lined up outside the building.

“Really?” A player clearly grew interested.

“Of course. A Basic Mana Armor Kit costs 20 Silver Coins, while you only need to pay 2 Silver Coins to skip the long wait to buy it,” the thin Swordsman said with a smile.

“Alright, bring me there. It’s just an extra 2 Silver Coins. Our party won’t miss this little amount of money.”

Following which, the thin Swordsman led the player up to the second floor, skipping the long queue on the first floor.

“Really, any sort of business goes, huh?” Shi Feng couldn’t help but exclaim after seeing this sight.

The Basic Mana Armor Kits were in high demand. However, the Starstreak Trading Firm only sold 50 pieces of the item each day, so only a very small number of players could obtain them.

However, this couldn’t be helped. Shi Feng couldn’t just focus all his attention on producing the Basic Mana Armor Kits. He still had many things he needed to do.

The Basic Mana Armor Kit was simply an item for him to accumulate reputation. It was not meant to be a true money-maker for him.

Afterward, Shi Feng arrived at the fourth floor of the trading firm and entered a Forging Room. He then started forging the Arclight Shield.

During this crucial period, many Guilds were thinking of how they could obtain the First Clear of a 50-man Team Dungeon. Naturally, the equipment of their MTs became the top priority in their considerations, especially the shields their MTs used. Meanwhile, an excellent shield like the Fine-Gold ranked Arclight Shield would, without a doubt, attract the attention of these Guilds.

As long as Shi Feng placed the Arclight Shields up for sale, many Guilds would definitely pay a huge sum in order obtain it.

Hence, the sooner he produced the Arclight Shields, the higher the price he could sell them for.

However, the success rate for forging a Fine-Gold ranked item was extremely low.

A normal Advanced Forging Apprentice only had a 2% success rate, meaning that, out of 100 tries, they would only successfully produce two Arclight Shields. In reality, however, they might not even be able to produce one out of 100 tries.

However, Shi Feng had both the Book of Forging and Blacksteel’s Insignia. He also had the Ice-Blue Devil Flame and various other tools that increased his forging success rate.

Even so, his final success rate at forging a Fine-Gold ranked item only sat at around 20%. In addition, Shi Feng was not familiar with the forging process of the Arclight Shield, so his success rate should be much lower than 20%.

If he was promoted to a Basic Forger, his base success rate would increase to 5%. However, that still wouldn’t make much of a difference. Only by becoming an Advanced Forger would there be a significant improvement. With the 10% base success rate of an Advanced Forger, in addition to the various supporting tools Shi Feng had, his success rate for forging a Fine-Gold ranked item could reach up to 30%.

However, Shi Feng needed to invest a lot of time in order to become an Advanced Forger, and time was something he sorely lacked right now. He had no choice but to give it a try now. In any case, he had plenty of materials to experiment with. He could simply try again if he failed.

Chapter 245: Gold

Before Shi Feng started forging the Arclight Shield, he decided to first forge a few Basic Mana Armor Kits to serve as a warm-up.

After God’s Domain evolved, the process of forging grew more complicated, greatly increasing the difficulty of producing an item. Unlike the Advanced Whetstones and Basic Mana Armor Kits, which were still considerably simple to make, items such as weapons and equipment had a much more complex forging procedure.

“It should be about time I give the shield a try.” After Shi Feng produced tens of Basic Mana Armor Kits, he finally retrieved the Silver Ore and Gold Ore needed to forge the Arclight Shield. He had also received the Magic Crystals from Gentle Snow in advance.

Gentle Snow had wanted to obtain the Arclight Shields as soon as possible, so Shi Feng required her to send him the Magic Crystals in advance.

Shi Feng had received a total of 200 Magic Crystals from Gentle Snow. Such an amount was sufficient for 20 attempts to produce the Arclight Shield.

Shi Feng only had a 20% success rate for forging the Arclight Shield. It was the lowest success rate he had ever had since he started forging equipment. However, if any other forger were in his shoes right now, they might not be able to produce even one Arclight Shield out of several hundred sets of materials.

Those conceited Guilds thought that they could easily produce the Arclight Shield after obtaining its Forging Design. However, if Shi Feng had not won the bid for the Forging Design, by the time those Guilds managed to produce a single Arclight Shield, the 50-man Team Dungeons would have long since been conquered.

In order to gain experience, when Shi Feng started his first attempt at forging the Arclight Shield, he went through the process slowly and steadily, carrying out each step to the best of his abilities.

Before he knew it, Shi Feng had spent over 20 minutes producing the first Arclight Shield.

Compared to a normal shield, the Arclight Shield had a crescent-shaped design. The entire shield was colored in silver, and many runic patterns were carved on the shield’s body. Although the shield looked mighty and powerful at first glance, it was still unknown whether it was a failed or successful product.

Shi Feng then chose to generate the shield’s data.

After ten seconds of waiting, the identification process for the shield was completed.

“As expected, it’s a failure,” Shi Feng sighed when he took a look at the shield’s data. Although it was indeed an Arclight Shield, its quality was a rank lower than the original; it was only Secret-Silver rank.

[Arclight Shield] (Shield, Secret-Silver Rank)

Level 15

Equipment Requirement: Strength 90

Defense +330

Block Rate: 31%

Strength +10, Endurance +20

Evasion +3

Additional Passive Skill 1-

Sound of Life: Every attack received will grant user with a stack of Power of Life, increasing maximum HP by 2% and received healing by 1% for 1 minute. Maximum of 10 stacks.

Additional Passive Skill 2-

Refraction: Triggers once every 50 seconds. Becomes immune to one attack.

“From a general point of view, though, it is not a bad result, all the same. At the very least, it is still a Secret-Silver ranked shield. I should be able to sell it for a good price even then.” Shi Feng was relatively satisfied with this failed product. After all, a Secret-Silver ranked shield remained a rare item at this stage of the game.

According to Shi Feng’s knowledge, a majority of the core MTs of second-rate and third-rate Guilds were still using Mysterious-Iron ranked shields. If he sold this failure, he could still earn around 6 to 7 Gold Coins from it.

Although he had failed this time, it was not a complete failure. At the very least, it did not turn out as a scrap item. This partial failure indicated that he must have made a mistake somewhere during the forging process.

“There shouldn’t be any problems with the forging of the main body itself. I must’ve messed up when I was carving the runes on the shield, preventing it from reaching Fine-Gold rank,” Shi Feng concluded after carefully reviewing his actions. According to past experiences, if a problem had truly occurred during the formation of the shield, then the Arclight Shield wouldn’t just fall by a single rank. It wouldn’t even be unusual for the shield to end up being Bronze rank or lower.

Afterward, Shi Feng did not rush to start his second attempt. Instead, he carefully studied the runes he had carved on the Arclight Shield.

The inscription of the runes were mainly done using the Magic Crystals. However, the process of completing these runes was not easy, as Shi Feng did not truly understand their meaning. He could only make blind imitations of the drawings.

Although he did not understand the meaning behind the runes, if he practiced drawing them over and over, it should still yield some positive effect.

Hence, Shi Feng started practicing drawing the runes.

Once… Twice… Ten times…

Every drawing took around four to five minutes to complete. However, as the number of times he practiced increased, he grew more proficient at drawing the runes. The runes he drew now also started resembling the original.

This cost-free way of practicing was much more economical than learning through actual production. Shi Feng naturally wouldn’t mind more practice.

“This should be enough.” Shi Feng looked at the latest rune he drew, feeling extremely satisfied with it. This imitation of his looked practically the same as the rune shown on the Forging Design.

Hence, Shi Feng started his second attempt at producing the Arclight Shield.

This time, the entire forging process of the shield flowed very smoothly. Shi Feng had only spent around 10 minutes to complete the second Arclight Shield. However, his attempt this time ended in complete failure.

Shi Feng’s 20% success rate did not stand on his side this time around.

Following which, Shi Feng consecutively produced ten Arclight Shields. Moreover, with each successive shield he made, the time he spent producing them also decreased. His hands also moved with much more proficiency. Out of the ten Arclight Shields he made, only two barely achieved the passing standard, two ended up as defective products, while the remaining ones were complete failures. As for the two defective shields, one was Mysterious-Iron rank, while the other was Secret-Silver rank.

In general, the results were quite good.

However, Shi Feng was still unsatisfied with the quality of the Arclight Shields.

“Now that I am proficient at making the Arclight Shields, the next step would be increasing its quality. If I can let Cola use a Dark-Gold ranked Arclight Shield, our chances at clearing the Demon’s Castle would become much higher.” Shi Feng decided to take out the Runic Gold, the reward he obtained for his promotion to Advanced Forging Apprentice.

Not only could the Runic Gold increase his success rate by 10%, there was also a small chance for it to increase an item’s rank by one, up to a maximum of Dark-Gold rank.

Unfortunately, Shi Feng only had five of these things, meaning that he only had five chances to produce a Dark-Gold ranked Arclight Shield.

The Runic Gold was a piece of ore that gave off a metallic glow and contained runic energy within it.

After refining the Runic Gold, Shi Feng poured the molten Runic Gold into the Silver-Gold alloy. Immediately, a change occurred in the alloy. The originally bright red alloy turned dark red in color. Moreover, it also started greedily absorbing the energy of the Ice-Blue Devil Flame.

As the amount of energy it absorbed increased, the alloy started emitting many golden runes, slowly forming an array of runes.

Knowing that the fusion was completed, Shi Feng immediately retrieved the scorching hot alloy from the furnace, placed it on the anvil, and started hammering on it. Slowly, the piece of alloy started taking on the shape of an Arclight Shield, and on the shield’s surface, there was even a layer of naturally occurring golden runes. The shield looked incredibly holy.

After hammering for several minutes, Shi Feng finally formed the Arclight Shield. Immediately, he retrieved a black liquid and started drawing the runes on the shield. The black liquid was the liquified product of the Magic Crystals.

Shi Feng concentrated his full attention on each and every stroke, afraid of making even the slightest mistake.

When he completed the final stroke, the naturally occurring golden runes on the shield actually melded together with the runes Shi Feng had drawn. Together, they formed completely new golden runes possessing no resemblance to the black runes found on the previous Arclight Shields Shi Feng made.

“Please be a success!” Shi Feng timidly selected to identify the shield.

Although the Arclight Shield looked absolutely perfect appearance-wise, whether it was a success or a failure still depended on the final data.

One second… Two seconds…

This time, even after 20 seconds had passed, the system was still unable to determine the shield’s exact data. This situation caused Shi Feng to grow slightly nervous.

The longer identification time indicated that even the system itself was hesitant. In the end, is it a success or a failure? Shi Feng had carried out the entire forging procedure perfectly. At the end of the day, however, his success rate was only 30%. Oftentimes, when the identification process took longer than usual, there was a higher chance that the result was a failure.

Finally, after 30 seconds passed, the system returned the identification results.

System: Arclight Guard has been successfully forged. Forging Proficiency increased by 2 points. Obtained 80,000 EXP.

Chapter 246: Neither Weak nor Strong

“Success on the first attempt? It seems my luck really is good.” Shi Feng revealed a faint smile when he heard the system notification sound.

Along with the Arclight Shield’s promotion to Dark-Gold rank, a change occurred to its name as well.

Shi Feng then started inspecting the silver-colored, crescent-shaped shield that was placed on the iron-weave felt. He was extremely curious to find out just what sort of Attributes the Arclight Guard possessed.

[Arclight Guard] (Shield, Dark-Gold Rank)

Level 15

Equipment Requirement: Strength 110

Defense +550

Block Rate: 39%

Strength +21, Endurance +30

Evasion +10

Additional Passive Skill 1-

Sound of Life: Every attack received will grant user with a stack of Power of Life, increasing maximum HP by 3% and received healing by 2% for 1 minute. Maximum of 10 stacks.

Additional Passive Skill 2-

Refraction: Triggers once every 25 seconds. Becomes immune to one attack.

Additional Skill-

Time Arc: When activated, allows the user to save current state, and return to saved state 9 seconds later.

Cooldown: 10 minutes

“Isn’t this Time Arc skill overpowered?! No wonder there wasn’t much of an improvement on the other Attributes. Just this skill alone made the Arclight Guard deserving of being a Dark-Gold ranked shield,” Shi Feng exclaimed.

Saving current state, which was to say, after nine seconds, even if the user of the Arclight Guard died, they would still recover to their saved state. The Cooldown of skills used after Time Arc was invoked would recover as well. Compared to a skill that provided invincibility, Time Arc was a much more amazing skill. The only downside to this skill was its long Cooldown. However, when taking into consideration the heaven-defying effect of this skill, a 10-minute Cooldown was considerably short. If the Cooldown of this skill was any shorter, then the Arclight Guard would no longer be just a Dark-Gold ranked shield, but an Epic ranked shield instead.

Although Shi Feng had already made one Arclight Guard, he was still not satisfied; he wished to make even more Arclight Guards.

Deciding so, he used up the remaining four pieces of Runic Gold when forging the Arclight Shields. However, the results were horrible. Out of his four attempts, two were complete failures; they did not even achieve Bronze rank. As for the remaining two Arclight Shields, one achieved Secret-Silver rank, while the other achieved Fine-Gold rank.

However, such a success rate was already very good. He had used a total of five Runic Gold to forge the Arclight Shields. Among them, one had achieved Dark-Gold rank, one had achieved Fine-Gold rank, and one had achieved Secret-Silver rank. Out of the three shields, Shi Feng would naturally save the Dark-Gold ranked Arclight Guard for Cola’s use. With the Arclight Guard, they would have no problems raiding the Level 15, 20-man Team Dungeon, the Demon’s Castle.

Just as Shi Feng thought of carrying on with forging Arclight Shields, someone knocked on the door of the Forging Room.

“Come in.”

When the door to the Forging Room opened, a golden-haired beauty walked in. This person was none other than Shi Feng’s assistant, Anna.

“Your Excellency, an adventurer named Aqua Rose wishes to meet you. She says she has an appointment with you, and she is currently waiting in the meeting room on the third floor,” Anna said respectfully.

“Alright, I’ll be there in a minute,” Shi Feng nodded his head.

Shi Feng had similarly guessed that Aqua Rose should arrive right about now. After all, teleportation occurred instantaneously. Aqua Rose only needed to gather her subordinates, explain to them the situation, and make some future plans.

—

Inside the meeting room on the third floor, Aqua Rose and her hundred-plus subordinates were seated around the room, having a small discussion about matters relating to Shi Feng.

These players all had relatively high Levels. The lowest out of all of them was Level 13, while the others were Level 14. Even if placed inside a first-rate Guild, all these players would be considered elite members.

These players were all Aqua Rose’s most trusted aides.

Before they had arrived here, they hadn’t dared to imagine that there would actually be someone willing to spend 300 Gold Coins to bring them to this place. If the organization this person belonged to wasn’t extremely rich, then this person was just insane!

However, after they discovered that Shi Feng actually had a connection with such a large trading firm, their thoughts immediately changed. Not only did Shi Feng manage to achieve something that no other Guild had achieved, his fame in the entire Star-Moon Kingdom could already be described as the sun in midday.

It was especially true for the recently popular Basic Mana Armor Kit. This was an item that plenty of Guilds could only dream of having.

If they could be a part of the power Shi Feng belonged to, then couldn’t every one of them obtain their very own Basic Mana Armor Kit? This was definitely a treatment that no other first-rate Guild could provide.

“Big Sis Aqua, just who is that Black Flame? Is he in the upper management of a Super Guild?” a female Swordsman curiously asked.

Aqua Rose shook her head, a bitter smile on her face as she replied, “I don’t know, either. He has always been very mysterious. However, I believe that we will be able to find out his true identity today.”

In truth, Aqua Rose was also interested in finding out the truth. However, now that they were going to join the power Black Flame belonged to, Black Flame would have no need to hide the truth from them. They could finally take a look at the giant hidden behind Shi Feng.

“Sorry to keep all of you waiting.”

The moment Shi Feng walked into the meeting room, everyone inside immediately fell silent. Everyone present stood up as they looked at Shi Feng, deep veneration in their eyes. They were like interviewees standing up to welcome their interviewer; some were nervous, while some were excited.

After leaving Twilight Echo, they were like homeless little birds. Although they wished to soar higher into the sky, they did not possess a home they could return to. Feelings of helplessness and disappointment constantly filled their minds as they wondered what sort of future awaited them.

However, the situation was different now. They would be joining an even greater family now. At this moment, these ex-members of Twilight Echo rejoiced over the fact that they had chosen to leave Twilight Echo together with Aqua Rose, praising themselves for making a wise decision.

After all, a bright future had already opened its doors to them!

“I am the one who should be sorry for making Master Black Flame wait for us for so long,” Aqua Rose apologized.

“Since we will be companions in the future, stop referring me as Master this or Master that. Just call me Black Flame.” Shi Feng could sense the cautiousness behind Aqua Rose and everyone else’s actions. However, this was to be expected. “I have only asked you all to come here so that I can invite everyone into the Guild first. Later on, Miss Aqua can freely decide how you all wish to develop yourselves. I won’t set any restrictions for you. Right, here is a copy of the White River City Guidebook. After you are done reading it, you should be able to familiarize yourself with White River City, Miss Aqua.”

Saying so, Shi Feng sent a copy of the luxury version White River City Guidebook to Aqua Rose. Simultaneously, he had sent everyone present a Guild invitation.

“Zero Wing?”

“What is this Guild?”

“Why is it only a 1-Star Guild? Wasn’t it supposed to be some sort of hidden power?”

Everyone entered a daze for a long time after they received Shi Feng’s Guild invitation. Ignoring the fact that they had never even heard of such a Guild, just having status of a 1-Star Guild showed how weak Zero Wing was. The reason being, even third-rate Guilds at this stage of the game were 3-Star Guilds, not to mention first-rate Guilds.

After taking a look at the member count of the Guild, everyone was further dumbfounded.

Before they had joined, this Guild only had nine members? What kind of Guild was this?

Zero Wing was the weakest Guild they had seen so far, second to none.

Even Aqua Rose herself was shocked by this revelation. The current situation was completely different from what she had imagined it to be. She had thought Shi Feng would be bringing her to meet the many great characters of this Guild, allowing her to get a grasp on the frightening background of the Guild. Yet, the truth that Shi Feng revealed had far exceeded her expectations.

The reason being, the influence of this Guild could literally be determined in a single glance.

“You all must be very disappointed to find out that my Guild is actually so weak, right?” Shi Feng looked at everyone’s crestfallen expressions. Suddenly, he said in a cold voice, “Let me give it to you straight. This, this is Zero Wing. It is neither weak, nor strong. It is merely a home that you can stay in. As for how others are going to view us, it will depend on your own performances.”

Chapter 247: Seizing the Ranking List

Although they felt that what Shi Feng said was logical, their disappointment still did not decrease by the slightest.

Out of everyone present, only Aqua Rose’s fighting spirit truly ignited.

She was the only one who truly understood the meaning of Shi Feng’s words.

Strength that depended on one’s self rather than others.

The best example for this was Shi Feng who stood right before them. His Guild was clearly very weak. Yet, he managed to achieve many things that not even many first-rate Guilds and even Super Guilds could. As a result, he made everyone believe that there was a mysterious power secretly supporting him from behind.

However, what was the reality of the matter?

By depending on only himself, Shi Feng had created a miracle.

He had even overwhelmed everyone back at the Blackwing Auction, causing a sensation.

Since Shi Feng was capable of such feats, why couldn’t she do so as well? At this moment, Aqua Rose truly found it laughable when she recalled how she had intended to utilize the mysterious power behind Shi Feng to prove herself to her parents and everyone back at Twilight Echo.

“Black Flame is right. How powerful a Guild is, is not important. How powerful we are, ourselves, is the crucial point. Since we have joined Zero Wing, let us be the ones to change how others view Zero Wing,” Aqua Rose explained loudly, in complete agreement with Shi Feng’s opinion.

Everyone fell silent at Aqua Rose’s words, but a fiery fighting spirit could be seen growing in their eyes.

That was right! They had originally intended to start from the very beginning. Now that they had a wealthy tycoon like Shi Feng supporting them, what more should they be afraid of?

A Guild’s development mainly relied on financial resources. The remaining factors would be the presence of experts to lead the Guild in raiding Team Dungeons and completing Epic Quests that were impossible to complete.

They would definitely turn Zero Wing into the number one Guild in White River City.

At this moment, Shi Feng sent Fire Dance and the others a message:

“You can start now.”

Immediately, Shi Feng received a reply:

“Understood.”

After seeing this message, Shi Feng’s gaze shifted towards everyone present in the meeting room. He then announced loudly, “I know that some of you still have some worries, so I’ll give you all a little surprise. I’ll let you all get a better understanding of just what Zero Wing is.”

“A better understanding of Zero Wing? Does this Guild still have any secrets?”

Everyone grew confused at Shi Feng’s words. Everything about this Guild was clear in one glance, so what secrets could there possibly be? The only thing that could possibly be a secret was the Guild’s frightening financial resources. With such a large fortune, they should have no problems getting their hands on the various welfare benefits that players would receive upon joining a Guild. Moreover, Black Flame was the publicly acknowledged Chief Forger of Star-Moon Kingdom. In the future, Guild members would have no lack of weapons and equipment to use. However, this shouldn’t count as a secret, right?

“Everyone can take a look at White River City’s Ranking List now,” Shi Feng said softly.

“Ranking List?”

Everyone promptly called out the Ranking List to take a look.

“Is there something wrong with the Ranking List? I remember that when I came to White River City, the top player on the Ranking List was Lone Tyrant. At that time, he was only at Level 15. How did he suddenly become Level 19? Did the system make a mistake?”

“No, that’s not right! Look at the player ID! It’s not Lone Tyrant!”

“It might not be a mistake by the system. Look, the top eight players have all been switched out. Even the player at eighth place is Level 18 now. Lone Tyrant is still Level 15, and he’s placed ninth now. How is this possible?”

“Level 18! Isn’t this level too much of an exaggeration? Even at the Storm Empire, the highest leveled player is only at Level 16. How could White River City possess eight players who have managed to surpass the top player at Storm Empire?”

“Wait! These players all belong to the same Guild, and the Guild’s name is called… Zero Wing!”

Everyone was dumbfounded when they discovered the changes in the Ranking List. They trembled, not daring to believe their own eyes. These eight players were actually their Guild members.

However, everyone’s hearts were filled with questions.

If Zero Wing had eight such powerful experts, why did the Guild remain unknown to the public even until now? This was simply unimaginable.

“This is the strength of Zero Wing?” At this moment, Aqua Rose started renewing her evaluation of Shi Feng and this Guild.

Although Zero Wing was small, it was a gathering of experts.

Wealth, manpower, and finally, fame. As things were, Zero Wing possessed the foundation necessary to become a large Guild.

As long as they managed the Guild benefits they offered properly, Zero Wing could easily become a large Guild within a short period of time. It was no wonder Shi Feng looked so confident.

Meanwhile, as Aqua Rose and her subordinates were reeling over their new discovery, the entire White River City had already been thrown into an uproar.

Lone Tyrant, who had been monopolizing the first position on White River City’s Ranking List all this time, had actually been kicked off by someone else. Moreover, he wasn’t just kicked off by a single person, but by eight. The sudden appearance of these eight players made Lone Tyrant’s previous glory look like a joke. It was as if these eight players had merely been giving in to Lone Tyrant before, just like how an adult would indulge a little child. Now, however, they were no longer letting Lone Tyrant have his way.

Otherwise, how would they explain this situation where eight players had instantly taken away the top eight spots on the Ranking List? There was only one possible explanation: they had constantly been hiding their levels.

“These people are inhuman!”

“Crap! The first place is Level 19, and even the eighth place is Level 18! I’ve only managed to hit Level 13 after working so hard. Are they trying to make me despair?”

“God, carry me, please!”

“What kind of backing does this Zero Wing have? Aren’t they a little too amazing? Is some major power planning to set up a stronghold in White River City?”

Many players within the White River City region were stirred up by this incident. The top eight positions on the Ranking List were actually taken over by a single Guild; one could just imagine how powerful this Guild was. Even Ouroboros, the number one Guild in White River City, was not as powerful.

Many independent players had started making inquiries into just what kind of Guild Zero Wing was.

There were even some independent players who had directly asked how they could join Zero Wing on the public forums.

After all, with such leveling monsters in the Guild, wouldn’t they too be able to level up like a rocket if they joined?

Suddenly, Zero Wing had become the hottest topic for every player in White River City, and many had expressed their willingness to join such a Guild.

Although independent players went into raptures over Zero Wing, the various large Guilds, on the other hand, were having a headache over it. They held nothing back at investigating this new Guild that suddenly popped up and also the top eight players on the Ranking List.

However, the information they received made Zero Wing look even more mysterious, as they failed to find out even who the Guild Leader of Zero Wing was.

The only thing they knew was that Fire Dance had once occupied the first place on the White River City Ranking List. In addition, the other seven players had also once been among the top ten of the Ranking List. Meanwhile, all eight of these players shared a common point.

All eight of these players had vanished from the public eye for quite some time now.

Previously, everyone had assumed that they had gone silent because they were overtaken on the list.

However, the reality of the matter was that these players had intentionally hidden themselves simply to avoid discovery until now.

—

“Can someone tell me what is going on here?” Lone Tyrant looked at the Ranking List, bellowing, “Just where did these bastards pop out from?”

At this moment, nothing was more humiliating for Lone Tyrant than his position on the Ranking List. His past glory was already worthless now. Instead, he had become the laughingstock of everyone in White River City.

“Guild Leader, I’ve already investigated these players. It seems that all of them are associated with Ye Feng. Moreover, I’ve also looked up Zero Wing at the Adventurer’s Association. The Guild was registered only recently, and it is possible that it is a Guild formed by Ye Feng himself,” a Ranger said.

“Good. Very good. At first, I thought that he had hidden himself out of self-awareness after I placed a bounty on him. However, it seems he is taking me lightly! Since he has come out to slap me in the face, and has even started a Guild in White River City, I will make him regret his decision! Immediately find out all the members belonging to Ye Feng’s Guild! I want his Guild destroyed!” Lone Tyrant bellowed as he announced a command to the entire Guild. He had to destroy this Guild and flatten Shi Feng at all costs. Not only was he doing this for himself, it was also the command of that mighty personage.

Chapter 248: Extraordinary Starts Out from Ordinary

Lone Tyrant wasn’t the only person who was enraged by the matter of the Ranking List. The other Guilds in White River City were similarly furious.

The Ranking List was a place for Guilds like them to increase their reputation. Although such a method of advertising was not as effective as obtaining the First Clear of a Dungeon, if they could occupy the Ranking List for extended periods of time, it would still bring about significant effects.

Now, however, Zero Wing occupied eight of the top ten positions, and many Guilds were disgruntled over Zero Wing’s monopoly of the Ranking List. These Guilds couldn’t help but wish they could invite Zero Wing’s Guild Leader and give him a piece of their mind to relieve their dissatisfaction.

—

At the Level 18 map Pyroxene Mountain, a 20-man elite team was currently clearing out the Level 18 Six-armed Stone Monkeys here.

The Six-armed Stone Monkeys were monsters with large bodies. Although they were two meters in height, their movements were extremely agile. Their Physical Defense was very high, and their only weakness was their low Magical Resistance. Hence, using large-scale magic attacks against these monsters would be very effective. Moreover, the Six-armed Stone Monkeys lived in groups on this mountain, and players could very easily lure a group and promptly kill them.

“Snow, the Ranking List has been occupied by Zero Wing. Moreover, their levels are all very high. It would be very difficult for us to catch up to them. It really makes you wonder how they managed to level up so quickly.” Zhao Yueru currently sat on a rock, resting as she replenished her Mana. After receiving a report from her subordinate and promptly taking a look at the Ranking List, she was immediately shocked by what she discovered.

As a player who had originally ranked within the top ten of the Ranking List, Zhao Yueru knew very clearly just how large a gap there was between Level 15 and level 18. At the very least, she would need to spend another week grinding before she could even reach Level 18.

This was equivalent to saying that these eight players would remain on the Ranking List for another week at the very minimum. However, this was assuming they did absolutely nothing during the entire week. If they were to continue grinding and leveling up at their current pace, who knew when there would be a change to the top eight positions?

“As expected, they are very strong. That Ye Feng has quite the ambition as well, even though he usually maintains a low profile. It seems that he has finally decided to take action now.” Gentle Snow did not feel any shock when she looked at the IDs of the top eight players.

“Snow, have you known all along?” Zhao Yueru asked, confused. She had a very clear understanding of Shi Feng’s capabilities. Shi Feng’s strength, leadership ability, and observation ability were above average; however, these traits alone were not enough for him to establish a Guild. Establishing a Guild was not as easy as playing a game of house since forming a Guild signified one’s intentions to compete for dominance with the other Guilds.

For a small Guild like Shi Feng’s, maintaining a low profile would be more beneficial. If they did so, most of the large Guilds would not have paid much attention to them. However, now that they’d done the exact opposite, they were practically telling the other Guilds to come at them.

“Mm, after they decided to hide their levels, I figured that their levels were not that simple. Ye Feng did not wish others to know, so he kept them hidden. Only, I never imagined that their actual levels would be so high.” Gentle Snow was greatly interested in these talents. She inwardly lamented the fact that these experts could only stay holed up in such a small Guild. If they joined Ouroboros, they would definitely shine with even greater brilliance.

If they stayed in such a small Guild, they would very quickly fall.

After all, a Guild needed financial resources to develop itself. Gentle Snow firmly believed that Shi Feng did not possess a frightening amount of financial resources, especially Gold Coins. There was also the lack of manpower. It would be impossible to develop a Guild in God’s Domain just by relying on several players. In addition, they would also have to suffer the oppression of other large Guilds. Hence, Gentle Snow determined that Zero Wing would not last long at all.

However, at the end of the day, Shi Feng was still her friend. Hence, Gentle Snow sent a message to Shi Feng, congratulating him on establishing Zero Wing. As to how he should develop his Guild, as an outsider, it would not be good for her to make any suggestions.

—

On the third floor of the Starstreak Trading Firm, the situation was not as grim as Gentle Snow believed it to be.

If Gentle Snow could see this scene right now, she would definitely be shocked. After all, not only did Shi Feng possess enough funding, he had also managed to recruit a group of players who had recently left a first-rate Guild, Twilight Echo. He had also managed to recruit Aqua Rose, who was once an honorary elder of Twilight Echo.

As someone who had once managed a first-rate Guild with over 10,000 subordinates, Aqua Rose possessed a wealth of experience. Hence, when placed in a situation where she had a large amount of financial resources but only a small Guild of slightly more than a hundred players to manage, she could carry out her tasks with little to no effort.

“Guild Leader, I have received your intentions. I will increase our member count up to 5,000 to the best of my abilities. As for the matter relating to the Guild perks system, for the moment, I will implement Twilight Echo’s Guild perks system as a temporary replacement. However, I hope that you can draft it as soon as possible. Otherwise, once some time passes, it would not be as easy to make changes to it.” Aqua Rose now had a good grasp of Zero Wing’s situation, and she felt very optimistic about Zero Wing’s future prospects.

Wealth, manpower, and fame. With all three things together, it would be very easy for them to recruit a large batch of new members.

“Then, I’ll have to trouble Miss Aqua with this matter.” Plans could never keep up with change. Based on his original estimates, it would still have been a long time before he established his own Guild. However, with the sudden addition of Aqua Rose, Shi Feng could not afford to wait any longer. Even if his preparations were currently lacking, he still needed to establish the Guild. Moreover, he had intended all along to deal with these Guild matters as soon as possible; it was just that he still had other things he needed to handle. Now that there was a professional standing right before him, why wouldn’t he make use of her?

“Guild Leader Black Flame, I am already the Vice-Leader of Zero Wing. Please just call me Aqua from now on. If Guild Leader doesn’t have any other orders, then I will start making the necessary arrangements now,” Aqua Rose said in a professional tone. Maybe because she had received a new position, Aqua Rose had very quickly entered a superwoman mode.

Shi Feng could only take a step back in this matter. He then returned to producing the Arclight Shields and Basic Mana Armor Kits.

Later on, the members of the Guild continuously increased. The reason being, Shi Feng had set the exchange of Basic Mana Armor Kits as one of the perks available to Guild members. This item held a fatal attraction to independent players, and if new members wished to obtain them, they needed to exchange for them using Guild Contribution Points.

Meanwhile, there were many methods for them to obtain Guild Contribution Points:

1) Dungeon diving.

2) Exchanging Bronze ranked equipment or above.

3) Making a contribution to the Guild – the upper management of the Guild would reward players who made a contribution with Contribution Points.

4) Carrying out Guild Quests – Contribution Points would be awarded by the system in this case.

5) Personal Guild Reputation received reaching a certain amount.

Hence, with so many methods available, Guild members would have no need to worry about not being able to earn sufficient Guild Contribution Points.

However, to prevent abuse by opportunistic players, further restrictions were added to increase the difficulty for Guild members to obtain the Basic Mana Armor Kits. Above all, one had to contribute a set amount of Reputation Points to the Guild before being allowed to exchange for the Armor Kits. Secondly, one needed a large number of Guild Contribution Points to exchange for the Armor Kits. Meanwhile, the total value of these Guild Contribution Points was no lesser than 20 Silver Coins.

With these two safeguards present, there would be no opportunity for Guild members to abuse the Guild perks system implemented.

Meanwhile, during the time Shi Feng was producing the Arclight Shields and Basic Mana Armor Kits, Aqua Rose had also arranged for her subordinates to recruit players at the Trade Area and Adventurer’s Association.

After half a day of recruitment, Zero Wing’s member count increased explosively. From the original hundred or so members, there were now over 3,000 players in the Guild. Moreover, the tide of players wanting to join the Guild showed no signs of stopping anytime soon.

“Big Sis Aqua, the number of players wanting to join the Guild hasn’t decreased at all. If this situation continues, we can easily recruit double the target of 5,000 members. Should we increase the number of players we recruit?”

“Follow the original plan; we won’t be able to handle so many players right now. If we did so, it would instead force the Guild into a period of stagnation, hindering our development. Increase the entry requirements for the Guild; raise the minimum level requirement from Level 11 to Level 12.”

Under Aqua Rose’s management, the newly recruited Guild members started taking on Guild Quests. Aqua Rose’s direct subordinates had also split up and formed new parties to raid Party Dungeons, upgrading the equipment of the new members. Everything was flowing smoothly at Zero Wing, and it did not look like a newly established Guild at all.

Before he knew it, nighttime arrived at God’s Domain. After making a large number of Basic Mana Armor Kits and three Fine-Gold ranked Arclight Shields, Shi Feng immediately logged out of the game.

The reason being, the Jin Hai Fellowship Party that Shi Feng had been looking forward to was being held today. He needed to make some preparations before he attended the party.

Chapter 249: Gathering of Elites

The first rays of the morning sun pierced through the window, shining on Shi Feng, who was currently working out in the living room.

Currently, Shi Feng no longer carried out the intense muscle exercises of the past few days. He quietly stood still for a long time, before slowly lowering his body, entering into a horse stance[1]. Closing his eyes, Shi Feng relaxed his body. Suddenly, his chest expanded as he inhaled deeply. He then exhaled, a trail of white mist coming out of his mouth.

Like a water pistol, the white mist that shot out from his mouth managed to actually reach a distance of over two meters before gradually dissipating.

If any normal person were to witness this scene, they would definitely be shocked by it. The season right now was summer. Yet, Shi Feng had recreated a scene that could usually be found only during winter time.

After repeating this process for an hour, Shi Feng stopped his rhythmic breathing.

“The effect of this Eight-sectioned Brocade exercise is quite good. I’ve only trained in it for an hour, and I can already feel my body becoming lighter. The exercise has also significantly cleared my mind.” Shi Feng clenched and released his fists. His entire body felt comfortably warm, and his five senses felt keener than usual.

This Eight-sectioned Brocade exercise was something he had accidentally stumbled upon in the past, after becoming the Guild Leader of Shadow, when he visited an antique shop.

Originally, he had planned to test the effectiveness of the exercise. However, after the company hired a martial arts master as an instructor at the Workshop, Shi Feng gave up on that notion.

During those days, people were already going crazy over God’s Domain. In order to improve their actual combat skills, they would practice martial arts like madmen. Naturally, Shi Feng was no exception. At that time, however, he was no longer young, and his body was similarly no longer in its prime. The things he could do were limited, and the most he could do was practice some Taichi and Eight Trigram Palms, training his techniques as much as he could.

However, his current self was different. Not only had he started consuming Nutrient Fluids at a much earlier period than in the past, after undergoing several workout sessions, his current body’s physique far surpassed the one of his past.

There was a saying in martial arts: “Internally, spirit and breathing are practiced; externally, muscles, bones, and skin are practiced.” Meanwhile, Shi Feng related this saying to the Eight-sectioned Brocade.

Only, he had not thought the exercise would yield such good results.

Although the exercise did not increase his body’s strength, it refreshed his psyche and allowed him to remain calm at all times. Such an effect was an unexpected harvest for Shi Feng.

After Shi Feng had his breakfast, he received a call from Zhao Ruoxi. She said that she was going to give him a ride to the Fellowship Party.

When Shi Feng arrived downstairs of his apartment, he immediately discovered Zhao Ruoxi standing in front of a blue sports car. She wore a pure white dress today, while her hair was tied up into a double ponytail. Her pure and beautiful appearance attracted the attention of every man that walked past her, sending them into a daze as drool leaked out of their mouths.

“Let’s go.” Zhao Ruoxi smiled sweetly when she noticed Shi Feng walking over.

“Is this your car?” Shi Feng looked at the blue sports car before him, feeling somewhat surprised. Suspicion of Zhao Ruoxi’s identity started growing within him.

This blue sports car was a limited edition Maglev Ferrari Z75, and it had a selling price of six million Credits. One would not be able to find one even in the entire Jin Hai City, yet Zhao Ruoxi actually owned one herself.

“Of course. What? Surprised? It’s just that, normally, I don’t like driving it to school. However, we are going to a formal occasion today, so I need to make an impression.” Zhao Ruoxi nodded her head slightly in reply. “Hurry up and get on. The venue of the Fellowship Party is quite a distance away.”

Although Shi Feng was mildly astonished by this new revelation, he didn’t attempt to delve further into the matter. After all, everyone had their own secrets. Hence, he slid into the passenger seat. Soon after, Zhao Ruoxi stepped on the accelerator, and with a whoosh, the Ferrari Z75 sped along the road of the neighborhood.

Envy filled the eyes of the many pedestrians walking on the street as they watched the Ferrari Z75 speed down the road. They inwardly wished that they too could drive such a sports car one day.

The trip, which should have taken over an hour by car, was reduced to just slightly over 30 minutes by Zhao Ruoxi.

“Hmm? Are you carsick?” Zhao Ruoxi asked curiously, looking at Shi Feng’s pale complexion after she alighted from the car.

Shi Feng was a fighting expert within the school, and he was a person capable of knocking down a powerhouse like Zhou Yuhu in a single move. Yet, he had actually gotten carsick. If others heard about this, probably nobody would believe it.

“It’s nothing. My body just feels slightly uncomfortable. It might be due to the breakfast I had this morning.” Shi Feng casually made an excuse. In truth, however, Shi Feng really wanted to say, “You call that driving? That’s practically attempted murder!” However, since Zhao Ruoxi had brought him here out of goodwill, he naturally would not say such words.

“Then, have you taken some medicine?” Zhao Ruoxi asked in worry, blinking her eyes.

“…” Shi Feng turned speechless.

The Jin Hai Fellowship Party was being held at a five-star hotel. Although the event was organized by Jin Hai University, the participants were not limited to the students and staff of the university. Other universities and elites of society would also be participating in this event, and it would not be an exaggeration to call this Fellowship Party a gathering of elites.

The Jin Hai Fellowship Party was an annual event held in Jin Hai City. Even though plenty of people wished to participate in this event, not everyone received the chance to actually do so. Moreover, the Fellowship Party held today was unlike any other before it. Aside from having invited personages that participated in Jin Hai City’s fighting competition, the event organizers had also invited many experts from gaming workshops this time around.

As to why they would decide to invite such gaming experts, it was mainly due to the growing popularity of God’s Domain. People could already see the limitless potential of God’s Domain. Hence, many wished to form a good relationship in advance with these gaming experts. The decision of the event organizers was undeniably the correct one to make, because several years from now, every single gaming expert that participated in this Fellowship Party would grow to become a famous celebrity in Jin Hai City.

Just as Zhao Ruoxi and Shi Feng were about to enter the hotel, Shi Feng was unexpectedly blocked by the security guard at the door.

“I’m sorry, sir, but your name is not on the list of invited guests. You cannot enter this place,” the tall and robust security guard leader said in a cold voice, looking at Shi Feng with a sharp gaze.

This security guard leader was a former member of the Special Forces, and he had experienced multiple battlefields before. The murderous intent he radiated could scare most of the people he met, and others usually did not dare to look directly at him.

If a normal person was the focus of the stare of this security guard leader, their hearts would immediately palpitate with fear as they redirected their gaze somewhere else. Yet, even after receiving this security guard’s glare, Shi Feng’s expression still remained as placid as before, his lack of reaction confusing this security guard greatly.

“That’s not possible. I registered Shi Feng myself. Can you check again?” Zhao Ruoxi’s brows wrinkled. She had personally gone to the Student Council at the university, and had directly handed two person’s worth of participation fees to the Student Council President. How was it possible that she was registered, while Shi Feng was not?

The security guard captain scanned Shi Feng once more. In the end, the results he got still showed him as “Unknown” and that he was not allowed entry. To make sure that nothing was wrong with the machine, he tried it on other people as well, and the results showed that nothing was wrong with the machine.

“That’s not right. I registered both of us together. I’ll contact He Youcai. Something must’ve gone wrong somewhere. I’ll get him to fix it immediately,” Zhao Ruoxi said.

“Sorry, but I have to do things according to the rules. Anyone not registered is not allowed to enter. Impromptu registrations are not acceptable, either. These are the rules,” the security guard captain said coldly.

“Who is the person responsible here?” Zhao Ruoxi asked angrily.

Shi Feng was someone she had personally invited. Now that Shi Feng was barred entry, how could she not get angry?

“Miss, please stop making things difficult for me. This is how the rules have always been. I can’t change it just because of one person.” The security guard captain could not help but soften his tone when he discerned that Zhao Ruoxi’s identity was not simple.

At this moment, several people walked out from the hotel. One of them was none other than the person Zhao Ruoxi was looking for, the President of the Student Council, He Youcai. Walking beside him were people Shi Feng were familiar with: Ling Feilong, Zhou Yuhu, and Qin Shuyu.

Meanwhile, it was Shi Feng’s first time to meet the Student Council President, He Youcai. The person in question had a stout body and round face, and his voice when he spoke was extremely gentle. It was very hard to imagine such a person being able to actually become the Student Council President.

“Fellow student Zhao Ruoxi, what urgent matters do you have? Why are you looking for me so frantically?” He Youcai asked.

Zhao Ruoxi then gave a short summary of what had happened.

“I am truly sorry about this, fellow student Zhao Ruoxi. I never would have imagined that such a mistake would occur in the registrations. I sincerely apologize, but since things have already gotten to this point, I am helpless as well; these are the rules that the school set long ago. Regarding your loss, I’ll compensate you with double the amount you paid.” He Youcai sent a glance at Shi Feng, a smile on his face as he spoke.

Standing to one side, both Ling Feilong and Zhou Yuhu looked at Shi Feng with mocking smiles on their faces. Even an idiot could tell that this matter had something to do with them.

TL Notes:

[1] horse stance: https://www.wikihow.com/Do-the-Horse-Stance-in-Kung-Fu