Reincarnation Of The Strongest Sword God - Chapter 458

Chapter 458: Fleeting Sword

Straight-line attacks were very easily seen through, yet Summer Sunshine did not seem to care about using them at all.

With Omnivision, Shi Feng’s every action was being scrutinized by Summer Sunshine. Even if Shi Feng thought about his next move, Summer Sunshine could immediately see through it and react appropriately. He was not afraid of his attack being seen through at all.

Moreover, unlike Summer Sunshine’s previous assault, this time, whether it was his movements or the dagger he was swinging at Shi Feng, neither made any noise. His attack was both quick and silent, and it simply gave one no time to react at all.

When an ordinary person was moving or attacking, they would always produce some form of sound. A sound would be produced because vibrations would form when an object moved through the air. These vibrations were caused due to energy dispersing from unnecessary actions, and the larger the vibrations, the louder the sound.

Although attacks that generated thundering sounds looked very imposing, a lot of energy was wasted.

In contrast, the less vibrations one produced when they attacked, the more concentrated the energy behind the attack would be. Naturally, the might of one’s attack would also become greater.

During a battle, other than sense of sight, a player also heavily relied on their sense of hearing and touch. Through listening to the noise produced by an attack, players could predict the general trajectory of the attack. The vibrations generated when an attack collided with air would also produce an impact, and by feeling this impact with their bodies, players could then take appropriate measures.

However, Summer Sunshine’s soundless attack was extremely hard to defend against.

Originally, launching a soundless attack was already beyond the capabilities of ordinary men. However, Summer Sunshine’s every single action was actually soundless. His movements dispersed practically no energy at all. This was already a realm that could not be reached by humans.

“Just who is he?” At a distance, Fire Dance, who was battling while watching Shi Feng’s battle at the same time, was inwardly shocked when she saw Summer Sunshine’s attack. She felt that it was simply inconceivable.

Summer Sunshine fully embodied the class known as Assassin, and this was exactly what Fire Dance had been pursuing all along.

Originally, Fire Dance had thought Shi Feng was belittling her strength too much, which was why he had barred her from fighting against Summer Sunshine. Now, however, it would seem that Shi Feng’s decision was indeed correct.

The gap between Fire Dance and Summer Sunshine was simply unimaginable. If they fought, she did not possess even the slightest chance at securing victory.

Sure enough, he really is a monster. Shi Feng inwardly sighed when he saw Summer Sunshine charging at him.

He finally understood why Summer Sunshine was capable of standing at the peak of God’s Domain.

After experiencing a decade of battles, Shi Feng had only managed to achieve a soundless attack after much difficulty. Even so, not every move of his could achieve such a state of soundlessness. Yet, every single action of the Assassin before him was actually soundless. The gap between them was simply unfathomable.

Shi Feng knew that he was currently not a match for Summer Sunshine at all.

If he was not Silenced nor in a Weakened state, he might possess a chance of contending against Summer Sunshine. If he had to rely on pure techniques, however, there was simply no chance for him to win.

If this fight took place in reality, it was highly possible that Shi Feng would have been defeated by Summer Sunshine in just a single move.

Although Shi Feng knew that he was not a match for Summer Sunshine, for reasons unknown, there was a sense of joy filling Shi Feng’s heart right now.

“Come!”

Shi Feng no longer held back. He used Void Steps again and charged at Summer Sunshine.

Void Steps placed a severe burden on its user’s mental power. At this moment, however, Shi Feng couldn’t care less. If he did not use Void Steps, then he would only last a few moves against Summer Sunshine. Since he was going to lose either way, he might as well take the final plunge.

After Shi Feng disappeared, even though Summer Sunshine hesitated for a slight moment, he still responded very quickly. With a twist of his feet, he suddenly swept the dagger in his hand to his side.

Everyone was greatly surprised, confused at just what the Assassin was trying to do.

However, when the dagger was halfway through its course, sparks were generated as the weapon was abruptly stopped in its path. Immediately after, Shi Feng’s figure was revealed.

Before anyone could react, Shi Feng used Void Steps and disappeared from everyone’s sight once more.

For a time, everyone watched as Summer Sunshine continuously brandished his daggers, creating dazzling sparks with every swing he made.

Those who were ill-informed would think that Summer Sunshine had gone insane. However, everyone present knew that the Assassin was currently fighting Shi Feng. Moreover, it was obvious that the Summer Sunshine currently held the upper hand in this fight.

A battle of such level thoroughly stunned everyone present. Compared to this battle happening right before them, the videos spread on the forums showing the battles of experts were just complete and utter garbage.

Presently, everyone had even forgotten about their own battles. All their attention was focused on the battle between Summer Sunshine and Shi Feng.

“This is bad.” Fire Dance grew anxious when she looked at Shi Feng, who was currently in battle.

The strain Void Steps put on its user’s mental power was no laughing matter. Previously, when Shi Feng had used Void Steps multiple times against a Chieftain ranked monster, his spirit ended up in an exhausted state. Despite his HP still being full back then, he did not have the energy to even move his body.

As the battle continued to drag on, Shi Feng could feel himself almost reaching his limit. Suddenly, he pulled a distance away from Summer Sunshine.

“You’re really good. You are the first person capable of fighting against me for such a long amount of time. However, that move of yours should be placing a huge burden on your mental power, right? I wonder just how many more moves you can handle?” Despite having gone through such an intense battle, Summer Sunshine still displayed a calm and indifferent expression on his face.

Shi Feng did not give a reply. At this moment, his complexion was deathly pale, and even speaking had become an extremely exhausting task.

“It seems that you don’t have much energy left. Let’s finish things then. Ever since entering God’s Domain, nobody has ever seen this move of mine, and you will be the first one to do so,” saying so, Summer Sunshine’s expression turned serious. The killing intent he had kept hidden all this time suddenly exploded like a volcano, suffocating all those who felt it.

Summer Sunshine was like a ferocious beast that had escaped its cage. In the next moment, his figure dashed towards Shi Feng.

However, when Summer Sunshine was halfway to reaching Shi Feng, his body suddenly vanished. Immediately after, he reappeared behind Shi Feng, his dagger tightly held in a reverse grip as he swung it down towards Shi Feng’s back.

Suddenly, the spectators of the battle were stunned.

“Does he know Void Steps as well?” Fire Dance said in shock.

“No,” Violet Cloud said. “That’s Second Acceleration.”

Violet Cloud had previously witnessed War Wolf using Second Acceleration to attack many times before.

Void Steps was a footwork that caused the opponent to ignore the user’s very existence. Even if the opponent was able to see the user, their brains would still categorize this information as useless and promptly ignore it. However, Second Acceleration was a trick used to fool a person’s eyes. Overall, it was a technique inferior to Void Steps.

However, War Wolf had used Second Acceleration on his attack, whereas Summer Sunshine had used Second Acceleration on his movements. It was clear that Summer Sunshine’s technique was several levels above War Wolf.

Meanwhile, Shi Feng was feeling extremely weak. He was simply unable to block or dodge Summer Sunshine’s soundless attack.

At this moment, although Shi Feng had discovered Summer Sunshine’s attack, he was already close to exceeding his mental limit. His bodyfelt extraordinarily heavy. Even if he tried to defend using the Abyssal Blade right now, it was simply impossible for him to keep up with Summer Sunshine’s speed.

Is this the end?

The moment before the attack was about to hit him, Shi Feng could not help but have such a thought.

No!

He definitely could not let it end here!

He still needed to reach even greater heights! He definitely could not be defeated here!

I need to block it!

I must block it!

My movements need to be faster! Much faster!

At this moment, Shi Feng was wholeheartedly trying to make his movements much faster and more precise. However, he no longer possessed the energy to control the other parts of his body. He could only use the most conservative way he could think of to block Summer Sunshine’s attack.

At this moment, Shi Feng’s mind had already forgotten to think, his body forgetting to breathe.

When there were only a few centimeters left between Summer Sunshine’s dagger and Shi Feng’s body, the Abyssal Blade in Shi Feng’s hand suddenly slid into the snow-bright dagger.

Dang!

The impact of the two weapons caused the snow-bright dagger’s trajectory to shift, and as a result, the dagger only brushed past Shi Feng’s body…

Chapter 459: Catastrophic

An astonished expression appeared on Summer Sunshine’s face when he saw his attack miss its mark.

How did he manage to block it? Summer Sunshine turned to look at Shi Feng. At this moment, he had yet to figure out just how Shi Feng had blocked his full-powered blow.

His attack just now used footwork he had created after entering God’s Domain.

Not to mention Shi Feng’s current weakened state, even if Shi Feng were in peak condition, it still should have been impossible for him to block it.

At this moment, the spectating crowd was similarly shocked by the outcome of the exchange.

The battle between Shi Feng and Summer Sunshine had already exceeded everyone’s understanding of the battles in God’s Domain. Meanwhile, the last scene only served to add to the confusion in everyone’s minds.

No matter how one looked at it, Shi Feng was not in a good condition. Originally, Summer Sunshine was suppressing him. Yet, despite being clearly on his last breath, Shi Feng actually managed to repel Summer Sunshine’s mysterious attack.

“Is that Black Flame a monster?

“He’s not dead even after this…”

Looking at Shi Feng’s fragile state, Lone Tyrant sucked in a cold breath in order to suppress the trembling of his body.

“It seems that Summer Sunshine won’t be able to deal with Black Flame by himself. Everyone else, surround Black Flame! Don’t bother about the other members of Zero Wing! No matter what, we cannot let Black Flame leave this place alive today!” Youlan commanded as she squinted her beautiful eyes. Although she had long since considered the possibility that Summer Sunshine might fail, that had only been a scenario of hers. Now that such a situation had actually happened, she still found it somewhat hard to accept. However, since the problem had already occurred, they needed to solve it immediately. After seeing how powerful Black Flame was, they had even more reason not to let him go.

Under Youlan’s command, the dazed elite members of Overwhelming Smile immediately started taking action, slowly moving to surround Shi Feng. Even the members pinning down Fire Dance and the others promptly retreated to join the encirclement.

Just as Overwhelming Smile’s members took action, Summer Sunshine resumed his attack on Shi Feng.

One stab… Two stabs… Three stabs… Five stabs… Ten stabs…

Instantly, Summer Sunshine stabbed at ten different locations on Shi Feng’s body. It looked as if the Assassin had released ten blades of light piercing directly at Shi Feng. All ten attacks were aimed at Shi Feng’s vital points—if Shi Feng failed to block even one of them, his little remaining HP would instantly zero out.

Dang… Dang… Dang…

When Summer Sunshine’s daggers approached Shi Feng’s body, a silvery-gray glow suddenly flashed across them, deflecting all ten attacks.

However, due to the difference in Strength, although Summer Sunshine’s attacks were all deflected, they still forced Shi Feng to retreat several steps. Fortunately, the difference between him and Summer Sunshine was not too great, so Shi Feng did not take any damage from the impact.

“You… How do you know…that swordsmanship?” When Summer Sunshine saw Shi Feng take action once again, he suddenly recalled a swordsmanship he had seen before. Although Shi Feng’s mastery of it was still incomplete, having only a few points of semblance, his performance was already very horrifying.

Summer Sunshine’s question did not receive a reply from Shi Feng. At this moment, Shi Feng’s eyes appeared vacant. He had not heard Summer Sunshine’s question at all.

“He’s doing it unconsciously?” Summer Sunshine was left slightly speechless when he noticed Shi Feng’s fragile state. A strong wind was all that would be needed to send Shi Feng crumbling to the ground right now.

However, Summer Sunshine couldn’t care less at the moment. Since he had been entrusted with the task of getting rid of Shi Feng, he still needed to complete it, even with Shi Feng’s mental state already at its limit.

On the other hand, even if he did not take action, the approaching members of Overwhelming Smile could still finish off Shi Feng. After all, Shi Feng was now on his last legs.

Just as Summer Sunshine was about to charge at Shi Feng, a large black hole appeared in the deep blue sky all at once. A wolf-headed, human-bodied monster suddenly emerged from within the black hole, exuding a frightening aura that constricted the hearts of everyone present.

“Why is he here?” Fire Dance’s complexion paled as she raised her head to look at the monster in the air.

That wolf-headed monster was none other than the Anubis’s Gatekeeper.

Only, at this moment, the Gatekeeper was no longer Level 30 but a Level 35 Great Lord, instead. His HP had also risen from 10,000,000 to 15,000,000.

When everyone present looked at the Anubis’s Gatekeeper, all of them were confused as to why a Level 35 Great Lord would suddenly appear at this place.

However, Shi Feng’s party members understood just why the Gatekeeper would show up here.

The golden stone tablet!

The Anubis’s Gatekeeper had been guarding the golden stone tablet all this time. Now that Shi Feng had stolen it, the Great Lord was naturally here for payback.

“It’s over… We’re truly finished this time… As if dealing with Overwhelming Smile was not enough, now, one more Great Lord is added into the fray…” Blackie had seen for himself how powerful a Great Lord was. Even after Shi Feng went full Berserk, the Gatekeeper could still toy around with him as if he were a little boy. Not to mention, the Gatekeeper’s level had even received an upgrade now. Who knew how much stronger the Great Lord was?

Although Blackie and the others sank into despair, the crowd from Overwhelming Smile was on cloud nine.

Overwhelming Smile’s main goal had been to raid the Great Lord of White Fog Canyon, only it was simply too difficult to approach the Great Lord inside the Ruined Shrine. The endless waves of Goblins gave them no chance to raid the Great Lord at all.

“A Great Lord?” Lone Tyrant’s eyes blazed.

A Field Great Lord was a fantastic opportunity for them to obtain an Epic item.

“Everyone, retreat for now. Scouting parties, keep an eye on the Great Lord. Have all Overwhelming Smile members inside White Fog Canyon gather at my location. We cannot let anyone else have this Great Lord.” Youlan was similarly feeling very excited.

Although the Great Lord’s level was somewhat high, God’s Domain’s second system upgrade had significantly weakened the effects of level suppression. It was not like they didn’t have a chance at successfully raiding the Great Lord.

Other than assembling the elite members of Overwhelming Smile inside White Fog Canyon, Youlan had also sent for the elite members present at other locations.

“Aoo!” the Anubis’s Gatekeeper suddenly howled.

All at once, a wolf’s howl echoed throughout the entire White Fog Canyon, making all who heard it shiver in fear. Even the trees were trembling in the face of this howl.

After the Gatekeeper released his angry bellow, he turned to look at the crowd from Overwhelming Smile below him. Suddenly, the Gatekeeper squinted his eyes, a bone-chilling light flashing in them.

In the next moment, a black spear appeared in the Gatekeeper’s hand. Silver flames abruptly emerged from the spear as the Gatekeeper aimed the weapon at the crowd from Overwhelming Smile and threw it.

Xiu!

The black spear easily rent the obstructing air and landed in the center of the crowd. In the next moment, a fiery inferno erupted into the air high enough to be clearly visible to every player in the outer area of White Fog Canyon.

When the spear landed, all players within a radius of 40 yards died. Not a single one survived. Since the Overwhelming Smile members stood very close together, just this single attack resulted in the loss of several hundred elite members…

“This…” Lone Tyrant’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

How was this a monster? Even a casual attack possessed such catastrophic power. This was practically a god!

Players like them could barely even be considered cannon fodder.

Before Lone Tyrant could finish his words, another black spear appeared in the Gatekeeper’s hands. Once more, the Gatekeeper threw his weapon into the crowd below, killing hundreds with his attack yet again.

“Everyone, retreat. Retreat into the forests.” Youlan’s expression turned extremely ugly upon seeing these catastrophic attacks. She had never imagined that a Great Lord was actually this powerful. Not to mention five or six thousand elite players, even tens of thousands of elite players would not be enough as warm-up for this monster.

If everyone were to continue idling around without taking cover, they would be completely wiped out in only a moment.

As for Black Flame, they could only set him aside for now.

Upon hearing Youlan’s command, everyone promptly charged towards the forests without hesitation. Nobody was foolish enough to stand around and serve as live target practice for the Anubis’s Gatekeeper.

Summer Sunshine looked at Shi Feng, then at the Gatekeeper in the sky. Heaving a sigh, he turned around and departed.

Fire Dance immediately charged up to the nearly unconscious Shi Feng and dragged him into the nearby forest to hide.

After hiding themselves among the trees, Shi Feng and the others were freed from their combative state.

At this moment, Shi Feng was forcibly logged out of God’s Domain and put into his Sleep Space.

Chapter 460: out War

During the time Shi Feng was in deep slumber, White Fog Canyon had become a forbidden land for players.

White Fog Canyon was a special region where Return Scrolls were unusable.

After the Anubis’s Gatekeeper came out from the Land of the Fallen Star, he would kill any player he met. As a result, countless players grinding for the Warfire Set Equipment were massacred.

Although the various Guilds in White River City tried to overwhelm the Gatekeeper through sheer numbers, how could a Level 35 Great Lord possibly be that easy to deal with? After receiving a few Annihilation Spears from the Gatekeeper, the various Guilds in White River City acknowledged their mistake and promptly withdrew from White Fog Canyon, no longer daring to take even half a step inside.

At this moment, everyone realized that, compared to the High Lords they had raided before, a Great Lord was on an entirely different level.

Although High Lords possessed many AOE skills and could cause players a significant amount of trouble, their usage of such skills was infrequent. They would still give players a little breather. As for a Great Lord?

Without hesitation, a Great Lord would immediately use spells of mass destruction. Moreover, it would use them repeatedly in quick succession. Even several tens of thousands of players would not suffice to raid a Great Lord.

Fortunately, the Anubis’s Gatekeeper would not leave White Fog Canyon and only roamed inside the canyon itself.

As a result, White Fog Canyon was no longer a gold mine for players but a forbidden land, instead. As for the players grinding for the Warfire Set Equipment, they all gave up on the enterprise. White Fog Canyon was originally a very dangerous place. Now, there was even a roaming Anubis’s Gatekeeper inside the canyon. Any who met the Gatekeeper only had death awaiting them. Moreover, the Warfire Set Equipment’s drop rate was simply too abysmal. Many who were already entertaining thoughts of giving up had their resolves hardened with the appearance of the Gatekeeper.

However, the matter regarding White Fog Canyon was still insignificant because after the second system upgrade, it became somewhat easier to increase one’s Reputation in cities. Hence, the various Guilds promptly started grinding for Reputation. At the same time, they also began to secretly amass Coins. As soon as they possessed sufficient Reputation, they could go into high gear, purchasing real estate in the city and paving a path for their own development in the future.

The various Guilds throughout God’s Domain started waging a covert war as they all tried to earn Coins.

There was only a limited number of ways to earn Coins in God’s Domain: obtaining it from the drops of monsters; quest rewards; trading with players; and selling junk to NPCs.

A Guild’s main method of earning Coins would be through monster drops and quest rewards. However, for Guilds without their own Guild Residences, the amount of Coins they could earn through quest rewards was minimal, so monster drops became the fastest source of income for such Guilds. As a result, areas with abundant resources became the competition grounds of Guilds, leaving independent players with no opportunity to grind for Coins at those locations.

However, at this critical juncture, a jaw-dropping incident occurred in White River City. Two of the major Guilds in White River City, Zero Wing and Overwhelming Smile, actually started an all-out war with each other. They even declared each other as Hostile Guilds through the system. As long as their members met out in the fields, a battle was bound to occur. Since the two Guilds were Hostile Guilds, members of both Guilds would not become Red Names when killing each other. Hence, the members of both Guilds had zero hesitation over starting a battle with members of the opposing Guild.

While other Guilds were silently developing themselves and grinding for Coins, Zero Wing and Overwhelming Smile had suddenly launched an all-or-nothing war against each other.

Of course, the other Guilds in White River City could not be more joyful over this development. They all simply chose to sit back and watch from the sidelines, taking advantage of the situation at appropriate times. They could not help but hope that these two Guilds would suffer a mutual demise.

After all, an all-out war like this would greatly affect both Guilds involved.

In just the first day since Zero Wing and Overwhelming Smile declared war on each other, thousands of members of both Guilds had already died to each other out in the fields.

Since these players were fighting for their respective Guilds, both Guilds had established a reward system. As long as their members killed a player from the opposing Guild, the system would automatically record the achievement. Through these kills, members could receive Contribution Points. Moreover, the number of Contribution Points awarded would vary, depending on the position of the Hostile Guild’s member killed; the higher the enemy’s position was, the more Contribution Points awarded. Killing an enemy player who had killed many fellow members would also reward more Contribution Points.

Contribution Points could then be exchanged for Guild Points, and these Guild Points could be exchanged for items available inside the Guild’s Warehouse.

This was undeniably a competition between both Guilds’ background and financial prowess.

—

Inside a bar in White River City, close to a hundred players were drinking and chatting merrily. They discussed their personal harvests, matters regarding the Secret Pavilion’s God’s Domain Experts List, and such topics.

At this stage of the game, the bars throughout God’s Domain had long since become the place for independent players to exchange information.

“Do you guys want to know why Zero Wing and Overwhelming Smile, two of the most powerful Guilds in White River City, suddenly started an all-out war with each other?” a Level 20 Ranger asked the female Cleric seated beside him while drinking his beer.

“Do you know the reason?” The Cleric girl blinked her eyes, slightly skeptical about the Ranger’s words.

“Of course! I have a brother who is an elite member of Overwhelming Smile. He even personally witnessed the reason why both Guilds started the war,” the Ranger youth said proudly. “I got a shock when I first heard about this incident from that brother of mine.”

“Can you tell me about it?” the female Cleric asked with great curiosity.

The Ranger’s voice was quite loud when he spoke, so the players inside the bar heard his words very clearly. At this moment, all of them perked up their ears as well.

Zero Wing and Overwhelming Smile were the tyrants of White River City. With the two Guilds warring with each other, the hostilities would greatly affect White River City as a whole. As inhabitants of White River City, the players were naturally curious about why these two major Guilds would wage an all-out war against each other.

Proudly, that Ranger youth said, “In reality, it was because Overwhelming Smile’s members had come into conflict with Zero Wing’s members. In the end, Black Flame had slaughtered Overwhelming Smile’s hundred-man team. In a fit of rage, the higher-ups of Overwhelming Smile secretly set out to kill the Guild Leader of Zero Wing, Black Flame. Back then, Overwhelming Smile had sent a total of 2,000 elite members.

“Overwhelming Smile had even invited the help of an extremely powerful expert. If not for the Anubis’s Gatekeeper showing up, Black Flame might have been killed back then. Having their Guild Leader encircled was a great humiliation for Zero Wing. Naturally, they would not let matters rest. In the end, they declared an all-out war with Overwhelming Smile.”

The players inside the bar felt that the Ranger’s words sounded logical.

This was a matter of the Guild’s reputation. How could Zero Wing possibly concede this matter? Moreover, the hostility present between the two Guilds was something long-standing. Obviously, after the encirclement this time, Zero Wing could finally endure Overwhelming Smile’s antics no longer.

“I wonder which Guild will come out victorious in this all-our war?”

“I think that it should be Overwhelming Smile. The Guild’s main headquarters is based in Maple City. It also possesses massive financial support. Haven’t you seen how excellent the benefits offered by Overwhelming Smile are? Just the monthly salary of the elite members is enough to make one drool. How could Zero Wing possibly compare?”

“It should be Zero Wing. After all, this place is White River City. Zero Wing possesses a Guild Residence here. Moreover, there are plenty of experts in the Guild. You can’t imagine just how excellent the benefits provided by their Guild Hall are. Among them, the most welcomed is the private rooms. One can accumulate Double EXP buffs by resting inside these private rooms. Moreover, Zero Wing’s Guild Warehouse is the envy of every Guild in White River City. There are plenty of Level 25 equipment stored inside. Right now, many of the players who had defected to Overwhelming Smile regret leaving in the first place.”

For a time, everyone in the bar discussed the war between the two major Guilds.

However, a party of six, seated at a corner of the bar, smiled contemptuously over this matter.

“It seems that Black Flame only amounts to this much. Leader, must we really go searching for him?” a Level 26 Swordsman murmured.

“Search. Only after testing him would we know whether or not he qualifies.”

Chapter 461: Exceeding Potential

When the sun set, Shi Feng had already been in deep slumber for over a dozen hours.

Di! Di! Di!

The virtual gaming cabin inside the bedroom continuously let out a warning sound.

At this moment, the Nutrient Solution inside the virtual gaming cabin was already depleted.

After the alarm of the gaming cabin rang for some time, the cover of the cabin suddenly opened.

“So tired.” Shi Feng opened his eyes and unwillingly climbed out of the virtual gaming cabin. He then took a look at the time. “What? I’ve actually slept for 18 hours!”

Although he had exceeded his mental limit once again, it was not as severe as the first time. Even so, he had still slept for such a long time…

“Just what is going on here?”

After Shi Feng woke up, his entire body felt drained. Even the Nutrient Solution he had refilled just a few days ago was completely exhausted.

Normally, a full tank of Nutrient Solution could last a player 15 days. The previous time Shi Feng had exceeded his limit, some Solution still remained. Now, however, the tank was completely emptied…

However, compared to the matter of the Nutrient Solution’s depletion, his body’s current condition was much more inconceivable for Shi Feng. Not only was his body extremely weak, but he also felt a piercing hunger that he had never felt before. He was so hungry that he could eat an entire cow right now.

Although Shi Feng did not understand what was going on, he did know that, if he did not replenish his body’s nutrients at once, he could very well faint from hunger.

He immediately retrieved the two bottles of S-rank Nutrient Fluid he had set aside for his parents.

At this moment, Shi Feng could clearly tell that the hunger he was feeling did not come from his stomach. Instead, it was his body that starved of energy. Even eating a meal would not sate this hunger. What he needed to do right now was replenish the energy of the cells inside his body. Meanwhile, the S-rank Nutrient Fluids were the best solution for this problem.

After removing the cap, Shi Feng directly gulped down a bottle of S-rank Nutrient Fluid.

When the S-rank Nutrient Fluid reached Shi Feng’s intestinal tract, the originally cooling liquid suddenly transformed into a warm current that moved through his blood, re-energizing his entire body.

Five minutes after drinking the S-rank Nutrient Fluid, Shi Feng felt much more comfortable than before. His spirit had also recovered significantly, and his body was no longer trembling as it had before.

The value of one million Credits was really not overstated.

However, this feeling only lasted for a short while before the feeling of hunger flooded his mind once more. He felt as if he was a wolf that had been starving for three consecutive days; a bite of meat was simply not enough to sate him. The hunger he was feeling right now was even more intense than earlier.

Is one bottle not enough? Shi Feng was speechless.

A single battle actually required him to sacrifice two bottles of S-rank Nutrient Fluids.

No choice.

Shi Feng could only remove the cap on the last bottle of S-rank Nutrient Fluid and empty its contents.

Originally, one had to wait an interval of three to five days before consuming another bottle of S-rank Nutrient Fluid as the energy contained within the liquid was extremely concentrated. A person’s body was simply incapable of completely absorbing all that energy. Instead, drinking two bottles consecutively would only damage one’s body due to overnutrition.

When Shi Feng drank the second bottle, he felt a little heartache.

Each bottle cost one million Credits. Moreover, one could not simply purchase S-rank Nutrient Fluids even if they could afford it.

In the past, even though he had been the Guild Leader of Shadow, he only got to drink one bottle a month. Now, he had actually drunk two bottles in a single day. If others were to find out about this, they would definitely look down on him as a wastrel.

However, S-rank Nutrient Fluids were indeed amazing. After drinking two bottles and resting for a few minutes, Shi Feng was already completely rid of his fatigue. His body had also recovered to normal. Following which, Shi Feng drank another dozen or so bottles of A-rank Nutrient Fluid before recovering to his peak condition…

“Is it my imagination?”

After recovering completely, Shi Feng suddenly discovered that his five senses were much more acute than before. Originally, he could never hear the chirping of birds when inside his bedroom. Now, however, he could actually hear it.

Besides being able to hear the chirping of birds, when Shi Feng looked at his own room, he was also able to see with much greater clarity than before. His mind had also become much faster.

“Did breaking through my mental limit multiple times allow my brain to become more active?” Shi Feng’s heart was filled with ecstasy.

He had tried fortifying his body many times before to increase the flow of blood into his brain, in addition to providing his body with various nutrients. He had done so to develop his brain’s potential and boost its activity level, so that he could create his legacy in God’s Domain.

Now, he had actually achieved a breakthrough!

The human brain had always been a domain filled with mystery. In the past, even the most amazing human could only exhibit 10% of their brain’s potential. Advancements in technology had made developing the brain’s potential possible, but it was extremely difficult to do so. It was not something one could succeed at just by trying.

In Shi Feng’s previous life, countless people had tried their best and had spent large sums of money just to raise their brain’s potential by a tiny fraction. Yet, even so, these people had felt that slight improvement worth their sacrifice.

As the activity of the brain increased, a person’s control over their body would also improve significantly.

In God’s Domain, there were many genius players who possessed extraordinary talents. However, why were these geniuses better than ordinary players?

It was because their brain’s activity was out of the ordinary. As a result, their control over their game avatar surpassed ordinary players’, allowing them to carry out actions that no ordinary player was capable of.

Just like Soaring Snake whom Shi Feng had met some time ago. Soaring Snake was a gifted genius who possessed unmatched reflexes.

Meanwhile, Shi Feng had broken through that limit by chance, so how could he not grow excited?

Although he had only received a slight improvement, Shi Feng could now see a new path opening up for him.

Moreover, this was a path that led directly to the peak of God’s Domain.

“It seems that I need to prepare many more bottles of S-rank Nutrient Fluid in the future.” Shi Feng felt uneasy when he recalled the piercing hunger that was transmitted to his brain earlier.

After breaking past the limit of his mental power, his brain naturally needed a massive amount of energy to recover. This time, he was only fortunate that he had sufficient bottles of S-rank Nutrient Fluid to allow him to achieve a breakthrough. Otherwise, he would have had to be admitted into the hospital to rest for some time.

Moreover, resting at the hospital would not necessarily increase his brain’s activity and develop its potential.

When Shi Feng thought about improving his brain’s activity, his thirst for S-rank Nutrient Fluids grew even more intense.

Only now did Shi Feng understand why the first-rate Guilds and Super Guilds in the past were purchasing S-rank Nutrient Fluids in bulk. There was an 80% chance that they had done so in order to nurture apex experts. On the other hand, he had been under the misconception all this time that S-rank Nutrient Fluids were only used to strengthen a person’s physique.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Suddenly, Shi Feng’s quantum watch started ringing. Meanwhile, the person calling him was none other than Big Dipper Training Center’s Chairman, Xiao Yu.

“Master Shi Feng, our side has already completed the preparations for the fighting competition. As for the exact time of the event, it will be set at two days from now, at 10 o’clock in the morning. May I know your opinion on this? If you are not free, I can still delay the event by two or three days,” Xiao Yu said.

“Let’s go with two days from now, then.” Shi Feng was in a very good mood at the moment. Hearing Xiao Yu’s words, he became even more elated.

As long as he won the competition, he would obtain not only five virtual gaming cabins but also 15 bottles of S-rank Nutrient Fluid.

“I have already sent the information regarding your opponent to your quantum space. However, that person is very mysterious, and the information we have collected on him is very limited. We only have the records for a few of his matches. He had ended a majority of his matches in just a single move.” Xiao Yu had not expected Shi Feng to remain so calm. He knew that Zhao Ruoxi had long since told Shi Feng every little detail about his opponent’s strength, so Shi Feng should know how amazing his opponent was. Yet, now, not only was Shi Feng not anxious, but he was even showing a hint of anticipation.

“I understand. I’ll research it a little.” Shi Feng nodded. “I still have other matters to attend to, so I’ll be hanging up first.”

After saying so, Shi Feng disconnected the call.

Following a period of rest, Shi Feng was already fully recovered. He still had many matters he needed to deal with in God’s Domain. Since he had slept for so long just now, he naturally could not delay any longer, which was why he had ended the call in such a hurry. After refilling the Nutrient Solution inside the virtual gaming cabin, he lay down inside the cabin and entered God’s Domain once more.

Chapter 462: War of Attrition

When Shi Feng logged into the game, the location he appeared at was still within White Fog Canyon.

At this moment, the sky in God’s Domain was dusky. There was still over an hour until dawn.

“It sure is quiet.”

Shi Feng took a look at his surroundings, failing to notice any players or monsters. There was only the sound of leaves rustling in the cold wind. This was a very abnormal situation in White Fog Canyon.

However, Shi Feng did not stay in this spot for too long. He dashed towards the exit of the canyon.

At this moment, Shi Feng’s Weakened state had already ended, having recovered his peak condition. If one were to look at Shi Feng’s running figure right now, they would not be able to see him clearly at all. They would only see a black figure darting across the map. Shi Feng was like a healthy and elegant leopard.

Just as Shi Feng was about to leave White Fog Canyon, a group of over one hundred Crimson-eyed Battle Monkeys leaped out of the forest and blocked his path.

The monsters in White Fog Canyon were very dangerous due to being in a constant berserk state.

Now that was night time,players would have their vision reduced while monsters would not be affected in the slightest. As a result, players would find it much more difficult to fight at night.

Facing against over a hundred Elite monsters, even an elite party would die unavenged. Only a large team of over a hundred players could possibly endure the assault of so many Crimson-eyed Battle Monkeys. However, as if he had not seen the monsters in his way, Shi Feng dashed into the group of Battle Monkeys.

The Crimson-eyed Battle Monkeys had similarly charged at Shi Feng like a group of mad cows.

However, just when the sabers held by the Battle Monkeys were about to land on Shi Feng, the weapons struck air and simply brushed past Shi Feng’s body. It was as if the Battle Monkeys’ target was not Shi Feng at all. They allowed Shi Feng to easily shuttle through them.

After their first attack failed, the Crimson-eyed Battle Monkeys turned around and attacked Shi Feng once more.

This time, seven Battle Monkeys surrounded Shi Feng. However, Shi Feng was just like flowing water. Just like before, when the Battle Monkeys’ sabers were about to reach Shi Feng, the weapons simply brushed past his body.

In just a moment, Shi Feng had weaved his way through the group of Crimson-eyed Battle Monkeys. Although the Battle Monkeys felt enraged by this situation, they could not do anything about it. They could only watch unwillingly as Shi Feng exited the canyon.

The improvements brought about by an increase in brain activity sure are significant. Shi Feng was full of smiles as he turned back to look at the Crimson-eyed Battle Monkeys.

Although he could defeat such a number of Battle Monkeys by himself, he definitely would not have been able to effortlessly dodge such an encirclement. This achievement was all thanks to his increase in brain activity. Not only did this change improve his brain’s perception of danger, but it had also advanced his control over his own body. Whether it was in regard to an enemy’s attack or his own ability to dodge, the ability to control his movements had become very precise and refined. He had already entered the Refinement Realm.

Before, Shi Feng could only barely achieve Refinement with his actions, and he could not maintain that achievement for long; he could only be considered to have taken half a step into the Refinement Realm. Even so, half a step was already an amazing feat. Meanwhile, he had now completely entered this realm, becoming much stronger than he had been before. Even if he had to face Summer Sunshine’s assault right now, he believed that he would not end up in such a miserable state where he would be required to use Void Steps to dodge.

After leaving White Fog Canyon, Shi Feng immediately unfurled a Return Scroll and activated it.

Shortly after returning to White River City, Shi Feng discovered that the number of players here were much more numerous than before. The players were all recruiting team members.

“Money-farming team, 17 waiting for 3! DDs are welcomed! Must be Level 20 or above!”

“Frozen Waterfall independent party recruiting, 12 waiting for 8! We welcome all sorts of pros! Must be Level 21 or above! Equipment must be at least Bronze rank!”

“Twilight Lighthouse independent party recruiting! Party is being carried by an expert! Noobs, do not disturb! Equipment must be at least Bronze rank! Drops will be auctioned among team members!”

Many players were recruiting for Level 20 Team Dungeons out in the streets. This situation really surprised Shi Feng.

Whether it was Frozen Waterfall or Twilight Lighthouse, both were challenging 20-man Team Dungeons; their difficulty was considered intermediate among Level 20 Team Dungeons. Currently, even a normal Guild Team would not necessarily succeed when clearing one. Yet, there were actually so many independent teams recruiting for these Dungeons. This situation truly confused Shi Feng.

He had gone offline for just one day.

Just when did the independent players of White River City become so powerful?!

Aside from the shouts of recruitment by independent players, Shi Feng also heard news regarding the all-out war between Zero Wing and Overwhelming Smile.

Up to now, the losses suffered by both Guilds had already exceeded 2,000 players. Moreover, the battles between both Guilds were growing intenser as time passed. In the beginning, the skirmishes that occurred only involved dozens of players, before slowly growing into the hundreds. At this point in time, both Guilds were already waging wars involving over a thousand players.

“Zero Wing really is amazing. Their total kill count right now has already exceeded 5,000 players. Meanwhile, Overwhelming Smile has only managed to kill around 2,000 Zero Wing members.”

“I know, right? I heard that Zero Wing’s Assassin Fire Dance alone has killed more than 300 Overwhelming Smile members. Many players were done in by her, and she has even managed to kill Lone Tyrant, giving Overwhelming Smile a huge headache. Right now, her fame is no longer beneath Black Flame.”

“Other than Fire Dance, there is also Flying Shadow, another Assassin of Zero Wing. His kill count is just slightly below Fire Dance’s. Right now, he has already killed more than 200 members of Overwhelming Smile. In addition, there are also Aqua Rose, Violet Cloud, Cola, Blackie, and so on. Every one of them has killed over 100 players already. Other than the core members of Zero Wing, there are also many rising experts in Zero Wing. Among them is a Berserker called Shadow Sword; his kill count is over 50. I hear that he has even managed to exchange for a Level 25 Fine-Gold Equipment with the Contribution Points he obtained.”

“Say, even though Overwhelming Smile also has a large number of experts, why aren’t they able to fight against multiple enemies by themselves like Zero Wing’s experts? Just why are Zero Wing’s experts so strong?”

“You don’t know? I hear that Zero Wing’s core members have completed their Class Change and have become Tier 1 classes already. In terms of Attributes and Skills, they are much more powerful than us players who have yet to complete our Class Change. Even when facing a player with the same Attributes and equipment, a Tier 1 player can still easily defeat half a dozen Tier 0 players. Moreover, I hear that Zero Wing has over 50 Tier 1 players. Overwhelming Smile is naturally unable to contend against Zero Wing.”

“It can’t be, right?! I hear that the Class Change Quest is absurdly difficult. It is practically impossible to complete it without reaching Level 27 or 28. Many have tried before, but all of them had failed. Moreover, if one fails their Class Change Quest, they will have to wait a very long time before they can challenge the quest again. Just how have so many players from Zero Wing completed their Class Change?!”

The players holding discussions on the street marveled at Zero Wing’s strength. At the same time, they had also received a glimpse of how powerful a Tier 1 class was. It was not something a Tier 0 class could compare to at all.

When Shi Feng heard these conversations, a faint smile appeared on his face. After so many days of effort, there were finally some results.

Over 50 Tier 1 players could indeed play a huge role in a battle involving thousands of players. Unfortunately, with just two Guilds battling against each other, wars involving thousands of players rarely occurred. A majority of the battles fought between the two Guilds were merely small skirmishes that involved several dozen players. As a result, the potential of these 50-plus Tier 1 players was less than it could be.

Moreover, when comparing the backgrounds and fundings of the two Guilds, Overwhelming Smile was leaps and bounds above Zero Wing.

Although Overwhelming Smile’s death count was more than double Zero Wing’s death count, Overwhelming Smile was supported by Underworld from behind. Their financial prowess was definitely more than a dozen times greater than Zero Wing’s. Even if the compensation and rewards they gave was triple or quadruple of what Zero Wing gave, they could still afford to grind Zero Wing into dust.

This was the reason why Shi Feng had been unwilling to start an all-out war all this time, as doing so would be very detrimental to Zero Wing.

Following which, Shi Feng contacted Aqua Rose to get a more detailed understanding of the present situation. He then increased the Contribution Points awarded for killing enemy players as well as increased the compensation of the Guild members who died battling against the enemy. At the same time, he also made preparations to start raiding 50-man Team Dungeons and 100-man Team Dungeons.

“Guild Leader, now that we have started an all-out war with Overwhelming Smile, if we increase the compensation and rewards, the expenses of the Guild will increase by several times. If the war is extended, this amount will become astronomical. Moreover, the compensation and rewards we are currently giving out are already quite high. Even the Guild members feel that they are good. There is simply no need for this extra spending.” Aqua Rose knew that Shi Feng was rich, but even so, money should not be wasted in such a way. It was especially true for the rewards given out. If the Guild members managed to kill 10,000 enemies, even if the Guild only gave one additional Contribution Point for each kill, the Guild would still have to pay for the cost of an additional 10,000 Contribution Points. Not to mention, as the fighting continued, large wars would occur more frequently. At that time, the Contribution Points the Guild would have to pay out would increase by several times.

“No problem. I’ll figure out a way to deal with the matters regarding money,” Shi Feng said, shaking his head.

The reason why he was increasing the amount of Contribution Points awarded was not for the purpose of exciting the Guild members. Instead, he was doing so in order to hasten up the consumption speed of both sides.

If it had been in the past, Shi Feng definitely would not fight a war of attrition with Overwhelming Smile. Now, however, things were different. He now had a large amount of Starfire Ore in his hands. He would let Overwhelming Smile know what it truly felt like to crumble apart.

Chapter 463: Imperial Heirloom

“I’ll make the adjustments now, then.” Aqua Rose could only nod her head in reply upon hearing Shi Feng’s confident answer.

“Right, have you compensated Virtuous Cloud and the others?” Shi Feng suddenly asked.

After all was said and done, Overwhelming Smile had ambushed them because of him. He also still owed Virtuous Cloud six pieces of Secret-Silver Equipment. However, due to his short hibernation this time, he had not been able to bring them to make their selection.

“I’ve already brought them to the Guild’s Warehouse to exchange for ten pieces of Level 20 Secret-Silver Equipment. However, there is one matter that you definitely won’t be able to guess,” Aqua Rose said, revealing a mysterious smile.

“What happened?” Shi Feng asked curiously.

“After Virtuous Cloud and her party saw our Guild Warehouse, they were downright stupefied. Originally, they were planning to return to the Black Dragon Empire to continue their development there. Now, however, the party has joined Zero Wing and should be carrying out some high-level Guild Quests at the moment,” Aqua Rose replied.

Aqua Rose was very optimistic about Virtuous Cloud’s crew. An independent party attaining such high levels and good equipment was quite an amazing feat. Now that they had entered Zero Wing, it wouldn’t be long before they became experts.

In God’s Domain, though elite players were easy to find, experts were not.

Now that Zero Wing was in an all-out war with Overwhelming Smile, it would be a long time before things settled down. After all, it was not possible for either side to defeat the other in one fell swoop. Moreover, battles between two warring Guilds consisted mostly of small-scale skirmishes; large-scale engagements occurred very infrequently. As a result, the importance of players with top-tier combat power grew even greater. If a large group of players took action together, they could easily be discovered, as well as easily countered. However, if a party or an individual took action, they would be highly mobile; hence, they would not be discovered so easily. If Zero Wing could form a party of experts and give a huge blow to Overwhelming Smile from time to time, they could easily force Overwhelming Smile into a passive state.

“Guild Leader, why don’t we start raiding 50-man Team Dungeons now? Although the benefits we offer could attract quite a number of players to the Guild, it is still not enough of an attraction for many independent experts. The things these experts seek are top-tier equipment and room for growth. Meanwhile, we can use the top-tier equipment we obtain from large-scale Dungeons to attract these experts,” Aqua Rose suggested.

After seeing the reactions of Virtuous Cloud’s crew yesterday, Aqua Rose came up with this idea.

Previously, she had also tried inviting Virtuous Cloud and her party to join Zero Wing, but they had been reticent. However, after seeing the large number of Level 25 Fine-Gold and Secret-Silver Equipment, as well as plenty of Level 20 Dark-Gold Equipment, they made up their minds right away.

At that time, Aqua Rose had even considered displaying the two Epic items inside their Guild’s Warehouse. However, the Epic items were Zero Wing’s trump cards. It would be best if other Guilds did not know about the existence of these items, so she had promptly dismissed this idea of hers.

If she were to really put the Epic items on display, then many Guilds would definitely scheme against Zero Wing. Her action would no doubt create many more enemies for Zero Wing. The Guilds that were maintaining neutrality might even side with Overwhelming Smile. At that time, Zero Wing’s position would become very tenuous. Hence, only core members, who had signed a confidentiality agreement, could know about the existence of the Epic items.

“We still have to wait for some time regarding the matter of the large-scale Team Dungeons. However, we can begin raiding 20-man Hell Mode Team Dungeons.” Shi Feng had been the Guild Leader of Shadow for many years, so he naturally knew what attracted experts. Although he fully agreed with Aqua Rose’s suggestion, large-scale Team Dungeons were no walk in the park. They needed to accumulate even more strength if they wished to raid one. On the other hand, they could give 20-man Hell Mode Team Dungeons a try.

Players had a fixed probability for obtaining Dark-Gold items from 20-man Hell Mode Team Dungeons, though the majority of the items were Fine-Gold rank. In addition, there were plenty of production materials that were available only in Hell Mode Dungeons. The Guild could also obtain Guild Popularity by clearing Hell Mode Dungeons. As the Guild’s Popularity increased, the Guild Quests commissioned by NPCs would also improve in quality, and this was what Zero Wing needed the most at the moment.

“I’ll get everyone prepared right now, then!” Upon hearing Shi Feng’s words, Aqua Rose immediately went into action with great excitement.

As for Shi Feng himself, he made a trip to the Bank.

Although there were many things demanding his attention right now—the all-out war with Overwhelming Smile, in particular—at the end of the day, there was only one task that he needed to complete, which was to earn money.

Shi Feng had experienced countless all-out wars between Guilds in the past, so he had long since known what took priority.

Although he himself possessed frightening combat power, allowing him to easily hunt and kill Overwhelming Smile members out in the fields, just how many members were there in Overwhelming Smile?

Even if he ran around all day, hunting players, how many could he possibly kill by himself?

Doing so would allow him to collect the Immortal Souls of players he killed, but it was still not worth the effort. Moreover, even if he did nothing but hunt players from Overwhelming Smile all day long, completing his quest would take many days. During this time, Overwhelming Smile with its huge funding could easily recruit a large number of additional players. Even if Shi Feng worked himself to death, he still wouldn’t be able to win the war by himself. After all, this was currently the early stages of God’s Domain. The various Guilds had yet to possess their very own towns and cities. Killing Overwhelming Smile’s members would only cause the Guild a little trouble and slightly affect its development speed.

Most importantly, Shi Feng simply did not have the time to do something like this. He only had a little time left to complete the Epic Quest Darkness Descends, and he was still far from his goal of earning 30,000 Gold. If he failed to complete the quest, at that time, he would have to face the wrath of a Tier 4 Demon. With his current strength, he would certainly die. Hence, earning money was his top priority right now.

The war between the two Guilds would definitely grow more intense as time passed, and the same was true for the expenditure of both Guilds. It was especially true for the expenditure on equipment. Aside from losing equipment as a result of dying, fights between players would also cause the Durability of weapons and equipment to fall at a faster rate than when fighting monsters. Naturally, repairing these weapons and equipment would also require a large sum of Coins.

Presently, Guilds had a limited source of income for Coins. Guilds would only begin raking in large sums of Coins once they possessed their own towns and cities during the middle stage of the game.

Although Overwhelming Smile had large funding, having a large funding did not necessarily equate to having a large number of Coins.

This was where Shi Feng’s confidence came from.

Half an hour later, Shi Feng arrived at the Bank. He then retrieved all the Starfire Ore as well as the Philosopher’s Stone from his Warehouse. He also retrieved the Dragonscale Set Equipment Forging Design he had stored away all this time.

At present, aside from the Warfire Set Equipment, the Level 20 Fine-Gold ranked Dragonscale Set Equipment was definitely the best Set Equipment available. It was naturally an item that all Guilds would fight desperately to obtain.

After Shi Feng organized the items inside his bag, he suddenly noticed the golden stone tablet inside it.

“How could I have forgotten about this thing?” Shi Feng’s mind had been occupied with too many things during this period of time, and he had completely forgotten about the golden stone tablet he had snatched away from the Anubis’s Gatekeeper.

An item guarded by a Great Lord was definitely not an ordinary item.

However, Shi Feng had also never heard about a golden stone tablet, so he did not know exactly what function this item possessed.

Glancing at it, he was unable to read its information; all that was displayed about the golden stone tablet was that it was an Unknown item.

Shi Feng then used Omniscient Eyes and started appraising it.

The seconds ticked by slowly as countless data flickered in front of his eye.

After a total of 22 seconds passed, the appraisal process was finally completed.

“An Imperial Heirloom?” Shi Feng muttered in disbelief when he read the information displayed about the golden stone tablet.

Chapter 464: Shocking Treasure

Shi Feng could not help but tremble when he looked at the golden stone tablet inside his bag.

God’s Domain was very large, and there were many kingdoms and empires within it. Naturally, these realms would go through growth and decline.

Countless kingdoms and empires had disappeared into the long river of history by now.

Although they had already been forgotten by people, some of these kingdoms and empires had left behind shocking treasures that were unknown to others.

In God’s Domain, these shocking treasures were called Heirlooms.

Heirlooms could be categorized into four different ranks.

The first would be Kingdom Heirlooms. Just as its name implied, it was a treasure once owned by a kingdom of God’s Domain. First-rate Guilds would fight tooth and nail for just one Kingdom Heirloom. In the past, there was even a Super Guild that had offered up a city with a population of over a million players in exchange for a Kingdom Heirloom. From this, one could just imagine the value of a Kingdom Heirloom.

Back then, although Shadow had become a second-rate Guild and controlled ten city states, it did not even possess the qualifications to compete over a Kingdom Heirloom.

Meanwhile, one rank above Kingdom Heirlooms were Imperial Heirlooms.

An Imperial Heirloom was an Heirloom left behind by a fallen empire of God’s Domain. Normally, the wealth of an empire was at least three to five times greater than that of a kingdom. The value of an Imperial Heirloom, naturally, was proportional.

In the past, a small unrated Guild called Thunder Family had taken less than a year to develop into a first-rate Guild. Back then, Thunder Family had shocked the entire God’s Domain.

In terms of experts or financial power, Thunder Family had possessed neither. Yet, it had still managed to develop into a first-rate Guild in such a short amount of time. How could such a feat not shock others? Only after many different parties investigated the Guild did they find out the secret behind Thunder Family’s success.

It turned out that Thunder Family had accidentally encountered an item called an Imperial Heirloom, and the Guild had secretly developed itself at a rapid pace through this Imperial Heirloom. Thus, Thunder Family had managed to become one of the overlords of God’s Domain in less than just a year.

From then on, everyone started searching for Heirlooms out in the fields. Many wars were waged in God’s Domain because of Heirlooms, and many Guilds were completely annihilated because of Heirlooms…

In addition to Imperial Heirlooms, there were Continental Heirlooms, which were one rank higher, as well as World Heirlooms, which were the highest-ranking Heirlooms in God’s Domain. However, the last two Heirlooms were only mentioned in the libraries of God’s Domain. As far as Shi Feng knew, nobody had come upon either one in his previous life.

Now that there was an Imperial Heirloom in his bag, how could Shi Feng not be excited?

Even as a reincarnator, Shi Feng had to carefully plan, make countless preparations, encounter many miracles, and nurture a large number of experts in order to establish his very own virtual empire. Meanwhile, just a single Imperial Heirloom had allowed a small Guild to grow into a first-rate Guild in less than a year, becoming the owner of a real empire.

As for what treasures were hidden within an Imperial Heirloom, Shi Feng was completely ignorant. After things got out of hand in the past, any who obtained an Imperial Heirloom would put a tight lid on it, keeping all information about it a secret.

In this life, Shi Feng would naturally also keep quiet about his possession of an Imperial Heirloom. Hence, he immediately suppressed his excited heart as he considered where to carefully research the Imperial Heirloom.

After he was done organizing his bag, he made his way stealthily to the Starstreak Trading Firm and entered one of the forging rooms on the fourth floor.

At this moment, the Starstreak Trading Firm had already become the number one trading firm in White River City. The variety of items sold at its shop was matchless. As long as it was something the current players of God’s Domain needed, the trading firm would sell it. Therefore, players who visited the Starstreak Trading Firm would have no need to visit any other shop. The trading firm’s business was thriving, raking in large sums of money daily. Although many Guilds had sought cooperation with the trading firm, all were promptly rejected by the firm’s manager, Anna.

Shi Feng had picked an unoccupied forging room at random and entered it.

“I’m interested to see just what sort of secret is contained within an Imperial Heirloom,” Shi Feng muttered as he retrieved the golden stone tablet from his bag and carefully placed it on the stone platform.

Other than being named an Imperial Heirloom, the golden stone tablet revealed no other information. Shi Feng was also clueless as to how he should operate an Imperial Heirloom, so he had no choice but to slowly experiment with it.

There were many drawings and runes engraved on the stone tablet. However, Shi Feng could not understand a single one of them.

He quickly spent over half an hour researching the Imperial Heirloom. But no matter what sort of methods he used, he failed to find even a clue to how to activate it.

Despite the mountain of gold placed right in front of him, without the activation key, he could only stare helplessly at the Imperial Heirloom.

“Thunder Family from back then was able to discover the secret of the Imperial Treasure, so why can’t I?” Frustrated, Shi Feng played around with the golden stone tablet in his hands. “Is there still some other secret to the Imperial Heirloom?”

It sounded logical when he thought about it.

How could a great treasure capable of allowing an empire to thrive be so easily obtainable by players? If the activation of the Imperial Heirloom were a quest, then the difficulty of this quest should be Legendary rank.

A Legendary Quest was definitely not something players could easily complete. Let alone a Legendary Quest, right now, Shi Feng already had a huge headache over just an Epic Quest.

I can only set it aside for now. I might encounter some clues in the future, Shi Feng thought optimistically.

Everything was bound to be difficult at the beginning. With the Imperial Heirloom now in his hands, what he needed to do next was to inquire around about it. There was bound to be a solution.

Shi Feng then stored the Imperial Heirloom and piled up the large amount of Starfire Ore he had on the floor.

During this period of time, Zero Wing had harvested over 20,000 pieces of Starfire Ore. If sold at a price of 1 Silver per piece, the total value of all this Starfire Ore would be over 200 Gold Coins. However, Shi Feng was going to convert them all into Starfire Essence right now.

Originally, if players wished to refine Starfire Ore, they needed to hire an Alchemist to refine the ore for them. Just a single refinement cost 1 Silver Coin. Moreover, the production of Starfire Essence was not guaranteed. However, there was a large possibility of obtaining one piece of Starfire Essence out of two pieces of ore. As a result, the market value of Starfire Essence was usually set at 4 Silver Coins per piece.

Shi Feng, however, did not seek the services of an Alchemist.

After all, the Philosopher’s Stone he possessed was much more powerful than any Alchemist. In addition, not only did he not need to spend a single Coin when using the Philosopher’s Stone to refine Starfire Ore, but his odds of producing Starfire Essence were also much higher than those of NPC Master Alchemists.

Following which, Shi Feng started refining the Starfire Ore.

One piece… Two pieces…

The refining speed of the Philosopher’s Stone was very fast. In just a moment, Shi Feng had already refined 100 pieces of Starfire Ore and obtained 83 pieces of Starfire Essence.

Starfire Essence

Increases success rate of forging if added during forging process. In addition, the more Starfire Essence added, the higher the success rate.

“The refinement rate is good as expected.” When Shi Feng looked at the sparkling red gems scattered across the stone platform, an indescribable sense of joy filled his heart.

The Philosopher’s Stone was definitely worthy of being called a treasure of alchemy. By using it to refine all the Starfire Ore he had, he could save over 200 Gold Coins.

Time passed little by little.

Before he knew it, Shi Feng had spent more than seven hours refining all the Starfire Ore he had. In total, he had obtained 18,000-odd pieces of Starfire Essence. If converted to Coins, the value of these Starfire Essences would be worth over 720 Gold.

In just seven hours, Shi Feng had more than tripled the original value of the Starfire Ore…

“I can finally start forging now.” Although Shi Feng had spent in excess of seven hours repeating the same task over and over, he did not feel bored or tired. On the contrary, he was filled with excitement right now. Just the thought of being able to mass-produce the Dragonscale Set Equipment thrilled him greatly. If he let the members of the Guild equip the set and take a stroll out in the city, the uniform equipment would definitely earn the envy and admiration of players all over White River City.

Chapter 465: Rapid Promotion

Blue Moon Restaurant, a high-class restaurant located in White River City. At this moment, the entire restaurant was completely reserved by Overwhelming Smile, and tens of elite members stood guard outside the building. Each and every one of these elite members of Overwhelming Smile was in a very bad mood, which showed in the fierce expressions on their faces. Any unrelated players passing by Blue Moon Restaurant would no doubt distance themselves from the building, as far away as possible, in fear of meeting with bad luck and getting into trouble.

Currently, Zero Wing and Overwhelming Smile were waging an all-out war with each other. While there was nothing bad to speak of about Zero Wing, the members of Overwhelming Smile were infamous for their tyranny. As long as Overwhelming Smile members felt even the slightest displeasure, they would try to make trouble for someone else. What Overwhelming Smile members did most frequently was field hogging. They would lay claim to an entire area and chase away all non-Guild members. However, although many independent players of White River City were furious over Overwhelming Smile’s actions, nobody dared to actually voice their opinion.

No doubt many independent players were cheering and clapping secretly over the war between Zero Wing and Overwhelming Smile.

It was especially true when news spread mentioning that Overwhelming Smile’s death count had increased significantly lately, and was now past the 8,000 threshold.

At this moment, two people, a man and a woman, were seated inside one of the booths on the second floor of Blue Moon Restaurant. The man was Feng Xuanyang, and the woman sat opposite of him was the quiet and elegant beauty Youlan.

“I’ve already looked through the information you sent me. It’s very well written; I’m quite satisfied with it. I also forwarded your analysis to the higher-ups, and they have already determined that Zero Wing is indeed a thorn in Underworld’s side. They’ve also said that if we cannot obtain Zero Wing, then we’re to destroy it to save us from future troubles. In addition, they have a very optimistic view on White River City right now.

“The current population of White River City has already exceeded two million. Many players from other cities, and even other kingdoms and empires, are constantly migrating here. At present, White River City has already become the second most populous city in Star-Moon Kingdom, so we must obtain control over White River City. This time, not only have the higher-ups sent a great load of manpower, but they have also increased our funding and are prepared to focus on the nurturing of Overwhelming Smile.

“I heard that after Zero Wing increased the compensations and rewards it is giving out, you increased Overwhelming Smile’s as well. I believe it should have increased the burden on your side significantly, right? However, you can rest easy and feel free to continue contending with Zero Wing. The higher-ups have already gathered 500 Gold as well as 300 million Credits for you. The Credits should have been sent to you by now. As for the Gold Coins, that will arrive in another hour or two at most. Afterwards, they’ll be sending even more Gold Coins and Credits. I hear that the higher-ups are very serious this time. Just the total amount of Coins they are planning to invest into Overwhelming Smile may be over 5,000 Gold, not to mention the Credits.”

Saying so, Feng Xuanyang snapped his fingers. In the next moment, another twenty people entered the private booth. Every one of these twenty people was shrouded in a thick layer of killing intent. Their bodies were as robust as a grizzly bear’s. Instead of looking like ordinary players, they looked more like a group of well-trained soldiers.

“These men are the Underworld Guards the higher-ups have dispatched. All twenty of them are party leaders, and every one of them leads a party of six members. In total, you will have 120 Underworld Guards to command as you see fit,” Feng Xuanyang said, smiling. “They are different from the other Underworld Guards. I’m sure you can tell, but they have all worked as mercenaries in the past. They are people who have walked on real battlefields. Isn’t Overwhelming Smile waging an all-out war with Zero Wing right now? As long as you have these Underworld Guards to assist you, those players who have never seen fresh blood will be easy pickings. Even if Zero Wing has more than 50 Tier 1 players, they will still be finished.

“I’ve already handed the men over to you. What they do next is up to you.”

“Young Master Feng, rest assured, I definitely will not disappoint you.” Originally, Youlan had already been confident of slowly exhausting Zero Wing to death. Now that she was looking at the two rows of neatly lined-up Underworld Guard party leaders, a sense of indescribable joy filled her heart.

Zero Wing’s 50-plus Tier 1 players had been giving Overwhelming Smile a huge headache recently, forcing the members of Overwhelming Smile into a state of passiveness. At this moment, they needed to similarly send out experts or Tier 1 players. Otherwise, they would simply be helpless against Zero Wing’s Tier 1 players.

However, Youlan had suddenly come to a realization.

Overwhelming Smile had plenty of elite members, but they were sorely lacking in experts and Tier 1 players.

Although not all twenty of the Underworld Guards standing before her were necessarily experts, and their levels only ranged between 23 to 24, they were all veterans of the battlefield. Meanwhile, now that the battles in God’s Domain were growing increasingly realistic, these people would have an undeniable advantage. They were much more powerful compared to ordinary elite players. If they worked together, they should have a very frightening effect on field battles.

Youlan could tell that the upper management of Underworld was taking things seriously this time.

Currently, the various Guilds in God’s Domain were desperately purchasing Coins. They had even secretly established many money-farming teams.

It was very difficult to accumulate 500 Gold. Not to mention, they were also planning to invest an additional 5,000-plus Gold Coins in the future. With such a sum of money, dealing with Zero Wing would be a piece of cake.

With the subsequent funding from Underworld, Youlan no longer had to worry about equipment. Currently, there were three main sources of equipment: Dungeons; the Auction House; and the virtual trade center. Unlike the Auction House, one used Credits instead of Coins when purchasing equipment from the virtual trade center. As a result, the prices of equipment sold there were very expensive. Even so, the wealthy did not mind doing their purchases through the virtual trade center.

The first reason was due to the supply of weapons and equipment there being much more abundant. This was because, in order to earn Credits, many Workshops and players would post their items up for sale at the virtual trade center.

The second reason was due to convenience. The currency of God’s Domain was not easily obtainable. Moreover, the trading procedures involved were very onerous.

With such a large sum of Credits, she could immediately fill up Overwhelming Smile’s Guild Warehouse and rebuild the confidence of the Guild members. At the same time, it would give Zero Wing immense pressure.

Hence, on the same day Youlan received the funds from Underworld, she purchased weapons and equipment ranging between Level 15 and Level 20 from the virtual trade center in bulk. The quality of the items ranged from Bronze rank to Fine-Gold rank. In total, she bought over 5,000 weapons and equipment, greatly boosting Overwhelming Smile’s morale. At the same time, she also raised the death compensation and kill rewards. Seeing this change, many more members of Overwhelming Smile were tempted to join in the field battles.

For a time, Overwhelming Smile’s momentum in White River City surpassed Zero Wing’s.

However, as the Guild Leader of Zero Wing, Shi Feng was completely ignorant about this occurrence. At the moment, he was focused on producing the Dragonscale Set Equipment and frantically raising his Forging Proficiency.

Recently, Shi Feng had been constantly busying himself with other matters. As a result, his Forging Proficiency had stagnated. Despite being the first person to become an Advanced Forging Apprentice, he had long since fallen behind Cream Cocoa and the others. These future Master Forgers had already become true Forgers. Meanwhile, Shi Feng himself still needed a lot of Forging Proficiency before he could become a Forger as well.

It should be known that only 3,000 Proficiency Points were required to get promoted from an Intermediate Forging Apprentice to an Advanced Forging Apprentice. Yet, in order to advance from an Advanced Forging Apprentice to a Basic Forger, 10,000 Proficiency Points were required; the amount required to rise a rank had more than tripled. Moreover, Advanced Forging Apprentices did not receive Proficiency Points from producing Common ranked items, resulting in a drastic reduction in promotion speed.

Melancholic Smile and the other two had only managed to become Basic Forgers so quickly because of the Basic Strengthened Armor Kit Forging Designs Shi Feng had provided them. In the future, however, even the Basic Strengthened Armor Kits would not be able to help them with their promotions.

Fortunately, the Dragonscale Set Equipment Shi Feng possessed was different. Not only was it of a very high rank, but it could also provide him with bonus Proficiency every time he succeeded in producing the Set Equipment. He also had the Forging Talent, Forging Genius, which had a fixed chance of giving him additional Proficiency Points whenever he succeeded in forging an item. Moreover, as the Dragonscale was a Fine-Gold Set Equipment, the EXP rewarded from its successful production was also very generous.

However, when producing the Dragonscale Set Equipment, Shi Feng had to spend ten Starfire Essences for each individual set piece. Moreover, even with the help of the various support tools he possessed, his success rate was less than 25%.

Even so, Shi Feng was already very satisfied with this result. If it were anyone else producing the Dragonscale Set Equipment, let alone 25%, it would be a miracle if they even managed a 10% success rate. Furthermore, the materials needed to produce the Dragonscale Set Equipment were not particularly precious, and he also had plenty of Starfire Essences.

Hence, Shi Feng madly produced the Dragonscale Set Equipment unmindful of cost. The more sets he produced, the more proficient he became. In addition, his increased brain activity also gave him an accurate grasp of the production process, allowing him to become increasingly faster and better at producing the Dragonscale Set Equipment as time went by.

Shi Feng never imagined that he would also have such a fortunate development.

Finally, after investing more than a day’s time, Shi Feng managed to completely use up all his materials and had succeeded at producing over a hundred sets. He was also promoted to a Basic Forger during this period of time, his promotion speed leaving one simply speechless. Furthermore, he had also leveled up to Level 26, his leveling speed even faster than when he was grinding monsters at White Fog Canyon.

Chapter 466: Dragonclaw Set Equipment

“That should be about enough.” Shi Feng looked at his bag containing Dragonscale Set Equipment with satisfaction.

Currently, God’s Domain players did not have very high levels, with a majority being around Level 20. Hence, Level 20 equipment had already become more common. This was apparent from the large number of independent teams raiding Level 20, 20-man Team Dungeons.

Even raiding Normal Mode, 20-man Team Dungeons would drop plenty of Mysterious-Iron Equipment at the very minimum. There was even a certain probability that a Mysterious-Iron Set Equipment would drop.

Even ordinary players wore a few pieces of Level 20 Bronze Equipment, not to mention veteran and elite players. It was no surprise if one ran into a player with a full set of Bronze Equipment.

The equipment that Guilds’ elite members wore was even more impressive. Unlike independent players, Guilds would very frequently form teams to raid Dungeons. Hence, the equipment available to Guild’s elites was far superior to what independent players had access to, and a majority of such elite members possessed at least a few pieces of Mysterious-Iron Equipment.

The lowest quality equipment Guilds’ core teams would wear at this point was Level 20 Mysterious-Iron rank. Normally, core members wore Secret-Silver Equipment. Only the top experts in a Guild had the chance to equip Level 20 Secret-Silver Set Equipment with a few pieces of Fine-Gold Equipment. To ordinary players, Fine-Gold Equipment was something they could only obtain in their dreams. Such items were out of their reach, and they could only fantasize about owning one.

As for Level 20 Fine-Gold Set Equipment, not even the upper-management of Guilds possessed a single piece. Level 20 Fine-Gold Set Equipment would only drop from Level 20 large-scale Team Dungeons. Not a single Guild was ready to set foot in a Level 20 large-scale Team Dungeon at this stage of the game.

This was why everyone had shifted their focus to the Warfire Set Equipment, which dropped in the White Fog Canyon.

Meanwhile, the Level 20 Dragonscale Set Equipment was definitely one of the best Level 20 sets available. Although it could not compare to a Warfire Set Equipment that had been upgraded to Fine-Gold rank, if one equipped the entire set, they would still surpass the requirements to raid a Level 20, 100-man Team Dungeon. The set would be of immense help to raiding large-scale Team Dungeons.

[Dragonscale Set Equipment] (Fine-Gold Rank)

Level 20

Can be equipped by plate armor classes.

Set consists of six parts: head, chest, hands, wrist, legs, and feet.

Set effect

Two-piece effect: Ignore Levels +10. Has a chance to trigger Fury effect when attacking, increasing damage by 20% for 6 seconds.

Four-piece effect: Strength and Endurance Attribute increased by 10%. Defense increased by 20%.

Six-piece effect: All Skill Cooldowns decreased by 20%. When attacking with a Skill, there is a chance to trigger Effect Multiplier, increasing the Skill’s effects by 50%.

Although the set effects of the Dragonscale Set Equipment could not compare to those of the Warfire Set Equipment, they were still enough to tempt both Guilds and players.

Originally, Shi Feng had intended to equip the Dragonscale Set Equipment himself. However, a Level 20 Fine-Gold Set Equipment was only as strong as a Level 25 Secret-Silver Set Equipment. Currently, he had several pieces of Level 25 Fine-Gold Equipment and Level 25 Dark-Gold Equipment. Combined, they were far superior to the Dragonscale Set Equipment. Hence, Shi Feng gave up on the idea.

However, after Shi Feng had spent over a day forging and produced the 105th set of Dragonscale Set Equipment, by some stroke of luck, he had triggered the Blacksteel Insignia’s Attribute increasing effect. As a result, the Dragonscale Set Equipment had upgraded by an entire rank, becoming a Level 20 Dark-Gold Set Equipment. Now, it was equivalent to a Level 25 Fine-Gold Set Equipment.

Shi Feng was overjoyed.

After the Dragonscale Set Equipment had upgraded, it was no longer called Dragonscale; he had now created a Dragonclaw Set Equipment. This was also the only Dark-Gold Set Equipment Shi Feng had ever produced.

[Dragonclaw Set Equipment] (Dark-Gold Rank)

Level 20

Can be equipped by plate armor classes.

Set consists of six parts: head, chest, hands, wrist, legs, and feet.

Set effect

Two-piece effect: Ignore Levels +15. Has a chance to trigger Fury effect when attacking, increasing damage by 40% for 6 seconds.

Four-piece effect: Strength and Endurance Attribute increased by 15%. Defense increased by 30%.

Seven-piece effect: All Skill Cooldowns decreased by 30%. When attacking with a Skill, there is a chance to trigger Effect Multiplier, increasing the Skill’s effects by 100%.

Aside from the fact that the Dragonclaw Set Equipment’s Basic Attributes could overshadow even Level 25 Fine-Gold Set Equipment, the set effects had massively improved. The Dragonclaw’s set effects were only slightly inferior to the Fine-Gold ranked Warfire Set Equipment. Only, the Warfire Set was more suited for PvP, whereas the Dragonclaw Set was more suited for raiding Dungeons.

In God’s Domain, experts would normally prepare multiple sets of equipment for themselves, and every set had different purposes. At the very minimum, experts would prepare a set for PvP and a set for Dungeons. There were also sets that focused on flexibility, damage, and so on.

In the past, Shi Feng had owned several sets of equipment at a time, which he used when he fought Dungeon Bosses, during Field PvP, and various other situations.

In this life, however, he still did not have the capital to afford multiple sets of equipment. In the early stages of God’s Domain, top-tier weapons and equipment were very rare. Having a full set of top-tier equipment was already impressive, let alone multiple sets.

Now that Shi Feng had the Dragonclaw Set Equipment, he immediately replaced the equipment he currently wore. As for the unused Level 25 Fine-Gold and Dark-Gold Equipment, he would store them in the Guild’s Warehouse, leaving them for other members. As for the Level 25 Flame Boots, however, Shi Feng kept them for himself. If he encountered an extremely fast enemy, he could use them to replace the Dragonclaw Boots temporarily.

After equipping the Dragonclaw Set, Shi Feng’s Basic Attributes increased significantly. His Strength was close to exceeding the 500-point threshold. His HP had also exceeded 10,000, granting him more HP than the Tier 1 Guardian Knight, Cola.

If I activate the Seven Luminaries Ring’s Aura of Earth, I could easily become the number one tank in Zero Wing. Shi Feng smiled as he looked at his own Defense.

Due to the Dragonclaw’s set effects, he already possessed the Defense of an MT. In addition, the Aura of Earth’s effects would increase his Defense by 45% and reduce the damage he received by 35%.

Just as Shi Feng was about to begin producing Basic Mana Armor Kits to serve as Guild benefits, Aqua Rose suddenly contacted him.

“Guild Leader, I’ve just received news that someone from Overwhelming Smile has become a Baron. They have purchased a plot relatively valuable private land in White River City and are currently establishing their own Guild Residence.”

“Overwhelming Smile?” Shi Feng could not help his surprise.

Shi Feng was not surprised that someone from Overwhelming Smile had obtained the rank of a Baron in White River City. After all, after the second evolution of God’s Domain, it became much easier to earn Reputation in cities. Moreover, due to the appearance of Zero Wing’s Guild Residence, the various Guilds had long since turned their focus to grinding for Reputation. It was natural that someone would have become a Baron by now.

However, purchasing a plot of private land and establishing a Guild Hall required a lot of money. Private land, in particular, was a huge headache.

Shi Feng had only managed to obtain the Purple Sun Mansion due to a quest reward, saving him a ridiculous amount of Gold Coins. However, Overwhelming Smile could afford to purchase private land, and even had the money to proceed with building a Guild Hall immediately.

Even the cheapest plot of land in White River City cost over 1,000 Gold. Adding in the cost of the cheapest Guild Hall, Overwhelming Smile would need to spend at least 1,500 Gold. Although it had become much easier to earn Coins, even a first-rate Guild would need over a week to accumulate so much money. Moreover, purchasing Coins in bulk through the virtual trade center would cause the price of Coins to soar. How many Credits would one need to purchase so many Gold Coins?

Since when had Overwhelming Smile become so wealthy?!