Translator:
Exodus Tales
Editor:
Exodus Tales
Chapter 1575 â Nurturing Experts
It seems that Iâll need to speed things up,
Shi Feng thought after hearing Aqua Roseâs report.
He was quite familiar with the Blackwater Corporationâs power. He had witnessed its rise in Godâs Domain in the past.
Despite joining Godâs Domain so late, Blackwater had still developed into a Super Guild quite quickly in the past. One could just imagine how frightening Blackwaterâs potential was. Furthermore, the Blackwater Corporation had invested in Godâs Domain much earlier in this life.
Blackwaterâs experts had already caught up with Godâs Domainâs mainstream players. Otherwise, it wouldnât have stood a chance against the other superpowers vying for the Iron Empire.
Of course, Zero Wing didnât have much to be afraid of if the Blackwater Corporation focused on its development in the Iron Empire. Based on what he heard from Youlan, the Guild had only recently taken control of the empire. The Guild was just starting to expand. Although Blackwater possessed plenty of experts and funding, it lacked the power to spread its influence across multiple kingdoms and empires as the various super-first-rate and Super Guilds had.
While the organization might be able to deal with small Guilds right now, it couldnât touch Zero Wing.
Unfortunately, that was only true if Blackwater worked alone. If it worked with Heavenâs Burial, Zero Wingâs situation would take a turn for the worst.
Blackwater could leave the reconnaissance to Heavenâs Burial while it supplied the Guild with a large number of experts.
Currently, players who wanted to grind and level up had to travel to distant maps, and most of the high-level maps werenât concentrated in a single area. Even if Shi Feng used the Seven Luminaries Ringâs Space Movement, it would take a considerable amount of time to travel from one high-level map to another.
âHow much time have they given us to consider?â Shi Feng asked.
âOne day...but I let my anger get the best of me, and I rejected their offer instantly...â Aqua Rose said in a subdued voice.
âYou rejected them?â Shi Feng stared at Aqua Rose in surprise. âDid you really reject them?â
âMhm.â Aqua Rose nodded silently, knowing that she had made a huge mess of things.
By outright rejecting Blackwaterâs offer, she had undoubtedly created another powerful enemy for Zero Wing.
âHahaha! Good! Well done!â Shi Feng could not help but laugh when he saw Aqua Roseâs guilty expression. âAlthough Zero Wing is not very strong, weâre never afraid of a challenge! If they want to come, let them. Weâll fight it out.â
âGuild Leader...â Aqua Rose felt guilty and slightly touched by Shi Fengâs words. Not only didnât he blame her in the slightest, but he also actively encouraged her.
âAlright, donât worry about it. This isnât the first time weâve fought a superpower,â Shi Feng said, shrugging. âBut be careful this time. Keep an eye on their movement at all times. Also, we need to push our Guild members to complete their Tier 2 promotions. Every bit of help is useful. Have our Guildâs internal members focus on leveling quickly, so they can add to the Guildâs combat power.â
âMhm. Iâll prepare some top-tier equipment, Magic Scrolls, and Advanced Potions for our Guild members to challenge their Promotion Quests. As for the Guildâs internal members, Iâll help them level up with Summer,â Aqua Rose said, nodding.
Following which, Shi Feng mentioned a few good grinding locations for Aqua Rose to use as she helped powerlevel Zero Wingâs internal members.
The Guildâs internal members already had solid combat standards; they only lacked levels. Once they were brought up to speed, Zero Wing would have another batch of expert players to help defend it.
When Shi Feng finished his call with Aqua Rose, he proceeded to train with the Guildâs internal members. To help them improve faster, Shi Feng even provided specific guidance to a few talented members. He even went so far as to use the ten additional black cards he had acquired from the Secret Pavilion to train You Ziping and a few others.
In such a way, Shi Feng trained You Ziping and the other internal members during the day. When the sun set, heâd log back into Godâs Domain and grind through the Divine Staircase.
The greatest problem other players in the World summit faced was the drain on their Stamina and Concentration, but Shi Feng could rely on his Life Essence to boost his recovery rate, having no issues in this regard.
The only real problem was the Divine Shrineâs increasing difficulty. As a result, Shi Feng had to take more time to clear each shrine. Initially, he had only spent 30 minutes on each Divine Shrine, though he spent most of that time waiting for Divine Providenceâs 30-minute Cooldown to end. As he ascended the Divine Staircase, however, the amount of time he needed to clear each shrine gradually increased to two, then three hours...
After grinding for four consecutive days, Shi Feng finally defeated the 29th shrineâs Guardian Boss, a Great Lord ranked Realm Lord.
He had initially assumed that heâd earn more Shrine Points from each subsequent Divine Shrine he cleared, but that wasnât entirely the case. After the 10th Divine Shrine, the SP reward only increased once every five Divine Shrines, yet these shrinesâ difficult constantly increased as he cleared the last. By the time Shi Feng cleared the 29th Divine Shrine, he had only accumulated 86,360 Shrine Points.
He was still roughly 14,000 points away from affording the cheapest Bloodline.
Fortunately, although he hadnât acquired as many Shrine Points as he had hoped, he had secured a decent number of Mana Barrier Crystal Fragments. When High Lord and Great Lord ranked Guardian Bosses died, theyâd drop at least one crystal fragment, but he had obtained up to three crystal fragments from a single Boss. As a result, he had a total of 43 Mana Barrier Crystal Fragments.
As for the Conquerorâs Armor Design, he had collected six fragments thus far. He was only three fragments away from completing the design.
He had also obtained over 100 Level 50 to Level 55 weapons and equipment. Their ranks ranged between Bronze and Secret-Silver, and although they werenât top-tier, they were rare and valuable at this stage of the game.
During this time, the White Tiger Dojo had also delivered the previously agreed 50 bottles of S-rank Nutrient Fluid and 20,000,000 Credits. Upon receiving the payment, Shi Feng assigned Shadow Sword to take charge of the 500 apprentices from the dojo. These apprentices would train in Zero Wing Cityâs Battle Arena, improve their Skill Completion Rates in Stone Forest Townâs advanced combat rooms, and level while grinding and questing each day. As a result, their combat standards steadily rose with each passing day.
Unfortunately, Zero Wingâs members had encountered group skirmishes with Blackwater and Heavenâs Burialâs experts in the fields, increasing the Guildâs expenditures. Despite the massive revenue source ZeroWing City had become, the situation took a heavy toll on the Guildâs funds.
However, monetary compensation wasnât the Guildâs biggest problem, but the loss of top-tier weapons and equipment. Meanwhile, the Guild only had a few teams capable of acquiring such items.
Although Aqua Rose and the other core members had formed teams to hunt down the enemy experts, they hadnât obtained enough Level 45 top-tier equipment to replenish the Guildâs stock.
âGuild Leader, Iâm afraid that our stock of Level 45 top-tier equipment in the Guild Warehouse will run out at this rate. Many of the other large Guilds in the kingdom have already surpassed our raid progress in Level 50 Team Dungeons,â Aqua Rose reported, clearly frustrated. âMoreover, based on the latest reports, it seems that Blackwater has sent over 4,000 experts to target our players. Including Heavenâs Burialâs experts, our teams are suffering a massive disadvantage while grinding in the fields.â
If Shi Feng were present, they might be able to slaughter Heavenâs Burial and Blackwaterâs experts a few times by relying on his Spatial Gate, which would, more or less, make up for the Guildâs losses.
Zero Wingâs members were constantly ambushed in the fields, yet Tier 2 experts like her were limited in their ability to fend off every ambush. Unless their Guild members stopped leveling and questing, thereâd be no end to this problem.
Moreover, Level 45 top-tier equipment was required to raid Level 50 Team Dungeons. If the Guild Warehouse ran out of such equipment, theyâd have to stop raiding these Dungeons. If this persisted, Guild members might even lose interest in earning Guild Contribution Points. If that happened, the Guild would fall apart.
âHave Melancholic and the others focus on crafting Level 45 equipment, and temporarily stop sales on Level 45 Secret-Silver and Fine-Gold Equipment. Use some of that stock to replenish the Guild Warehouse. If worst comes to worst, have Snow send some Level 45 top-tier equipment from the Branch Guild,â Shi Feng said after giving the matter some thought.
He had never expected Blackwater to be ruthless enough to send 4,000 experts. To make matters worse, that wasnât the Guildâs full strength. Blackwaterâs foundations had truly exceeded his expectations.
Shi Feng jumped back into his virtual gaming cabin, ignoring the fact that it was currently daytime and he was supposed to be resting. After logging back into Godâs Domain, he immediately made his way to the 30th Divine Shrine.