The number of players in Zero Wing City had not decreased — it had increased, completely exceeding the expectations of Watercolor Rose and the others. Moreover, the player population continued to grow, showing no sign of slowing down.
The sudden surge of one million players had brought Zero Wing Guild over six thousand gold coins in pure profit, and on top of that, a massive number of players had come specifically for Zero Wing City's teleportation function.
To save travel time and cut costs, the various adventuring parties that flocked to Zero Wing City all registered for membership — each membership cost twenty Magic Crystals. Within a single hour, over four thousand people had signed up, netting Zero Wing Guild more than eighty thousand Magic Crystals in one stroke.
As for the players teleporting to the Beastman Empire, the numbers were even greater. Because of the increased teleportation distance, non-member players had to pay thirty silver coins per trip, while the actual cost was only twelve silver — a profit of eighteen silver coins per teleport.
In just one hour, more than six thousand non-member players teleported from Zero Wing City to the Beastman Empire. The crowds were so dense that it was practically bursting at the seams, and Zero Wing earned over a thousand gold coins once again.
The speed at which money poured in left both Watercolor Rose and Melancholic Smile stunned.
Melancholic Smile had previously worried that activating the Tower of Magic Power wouldn't recoup its costs. Now, in just one hour, teleports alone had earned over a thousand gold coins — the money-making speed was faster than the entire Candlelight Trading Firm, to say nothing of the Magic Crystals brought in.
And the numbers were still exploding upward…
"Guild Leader, where on earth did you get the Tower of Magic Power? This is insane!" Watercolor Rose exclaimed, barely able to contain her excitement. "At this rate of income, our daily earnings can easily cover our expenses. Even if the Funeral Party wants to drag things out for another ten days or more, we won't have to worry."
She had been fretting over Zero Wing Guild's finances just recently. After all, the increased bounty meant their daily gold expenditure had skyrocketed — but now there was nothing to worry about.
With this concern off their shoulders, Zero Wing Guild could go toe-to-toe with the Funeral Party indefinitely.
"This is only the beginning," Shi Feng said with a smile. "In a while, I'll deposit the weapons and equipment I recently acquired into the guild vault for everyone to redeem freely. Everyone has been working hard these past few days, so distribute guild merit points to the Kingdom of Star Moon members in tiers — ordinary members get fifty points, elite members two hundred, and core members five hundred."
The Tower of Magic Power was, after all, a symbol of a city's status, and combined with the Quaternary Tower's teleportation function, pushing Zero Wing City toward a population of five million players in the future would be absolutely no problem.
And what did a five-million-player city mean?
The entry fees alone would bring in at least thirty thousand gold per day, not to mention revenue from renting and selling shop stalls, item sales, inn stays, the arena, and more.
"Guild Leader, isn't that a bit too generous?" Watercolor Rose gasped when she heard the merit point rewards Shi Feng had assigned.
Although the value of guild merit points had dipped somewhat recently, a single point was still worth nearly twenty copper coins. Fifty points for ordinary members meant ten silver, two hundred points for elites meant forty silver, and five hundred points for core members meant a full gold coin. It sounded small enough, but with the guild's enormous membership, the costs added up fast.
That was a payout of over a hundred thousand gold in one go…
It wasn't as though the points were being converted directly to gold, but the guild vault currently didn't have nearly enough weapons and equipment for everyone to redeem.
"That's fine. Everyone's put in hard work these past few days," Shi Feng said lightly, not bothering to explain further. He simply sent a message to You Ziping, instructing him to deposit all the weapons and equipment recently farmed from Lost Town into the guild vault.
Over this stretch of time, they had been continuously grinding demons. The level-55-plus weapons and equipment alone numbered over six thousand pieces. The vast majority were Bronze Equipment, but among them were several hundred Black Iron–rank pieces above level fifty-five and dozens of Mythril-rank items.
Watercolor Rose stared blankly, not quite sure what Shi Feng had in mind, but she posted the announcement on the guild bulletin board all the same. It immediately caused a commotion.
"Vice Leader, is this for real? The guild is giving out this many merit points?"
"But isn't the guild short on money right now? If they hand out this many points, what will the guild do?"