Coldwind City, Frostbone Plains.
Large numbers of adventuring team players were carefully clearing out the level-50+ undead creatures that roamed the area.
Frostbone Plains, as a leveling map for levels 50 to 60, wasn't exactly a resource-rich location. However, the undead here had absorbed the power of ice and snow over many years, and killing them had a certain chance of dropping Ice Snow Stones.
Within the Ice Crystal World, many places had icy environments. Without a certain amount of ice resistance, it was difficult to get around at all. Thus, items that could increase ice resistance were extremely valuable, and Ice Snow Stones were one such item.
As long as you incorporated a few into the forging of weapons or equipment, the resulting piece had a certain chance of gaining an ice resistance bonus.
While each individual piece didn't gain much, the cumulative effect across a full set was quite significant.
This drove up the value of Ice Snow Stones considerably. In fact, many guilds only accepted Ice Snow Stones in exchange for quality weapons and equipment. The reason every major guild operated this way was simple — Ice Snow Stones had an abysmally low drop rate. No guild wanted to burn through massive amounts of manpower and resources farming them, yet they desperately needed them. So they simply set up Ice Snow Stones as currency for weapons and equipment.
Because of this, farming Ice Snow Stones became the best way for many independent players to earn money and obtain decent gear.
However, the undead on Frostbone Plains were no pushovers. They rarely moved alone — whenever they stirred, it was in groups of at least a hundred, with the weakest being Elite rank and the strongest reaching Lord rank. Sometimes, when a high-ranking Great Lord-level Ice General went on patrol, the group could swell to five or six hundred.
Among the many adventuring teams farming Ice Snow Stones here, most operated in units of a hundred. Yet one twenty-person team was leisurely farming a squad of level-50+ Frost Undead.
The squad — comprising over a hundred undead — was systematically picked apart one by one by the twenty-person team in perfect coordination. Even two high-Lord-level, level-55 Ice Commanders were completely suppressed. In just over ten minutes, the entire squad was annihilated, dropping a spread of materials across the ground.
"Man Qi, your combat skills have improved so much lately. You can already go toe-to-toe with an Ice Commander on your own. If you hadn't been holding one of them down, we probably would've all had to run for it," said a level-51 Shield Warrior, glancing at the level-52 Guardian Knight beside him who carried a deep-blue diamond-shaped shield and wielded a crystal battle axe.
"I recently studied the battle footage from the Shura Adventuring Team's fight against Hecate. I picked up some insights from Gu Jiuji and Night Fantasy of the Shura Adventuring Team — otherwise, I really wouldn't have been able to tank an Ice Commander alone." Man Qi nodded, still somewhat buzzing with excitement. "After this hunt, I should have enough materials collected to exchange for a level-50 Mythril armor. Then maybe I can take on a level-55 Great Lord."
When it came to that level-50 Mythril armor, Man Qi's face was full of anticipation.
He had been grinding Frostbone Plains for ages to collect enough Ice Snow Stones for the exchange. Once he had the level-50 Mythril armor, perhaps he could push deeper into Frostbone Plains and challenge a level-55 Great Lord. The returns from that would dwarf what he was earning now.
In the Ice Crystal World, once monsters reached level 50, the rare materials they dropped decreased sharply. Great Lord-level monsters were a major dividing line — not only would they drop rare materials of far higher quality, but they also had a chance of dropping Iron-rank weapons and equipment, dramatically boosting one's earnings.
"Those big guilds are getting more and more greedy. Every exchange demands materials worth several times the equipment's value, and I've only managed to scrape together about half so far. Too bad our adventuring team's blacksmith isn't skilled enough — otherwise we could just forge our own level-50 Mythril equipment," the Shield Warrior said with undisguised envy upon hearing Man Qi's words.
Their team did have a blacksmith they'd trained in-house, but even though he was an advanced blacksmith, the gap between advanced blacksmiths could be enormous depending on their technical skill and the auxiliary tools at their disposal. Their team's advanced blacksmith struggled to forge level-50 Iron-rank equipment, let alone Mythril-rank.
Without good equipment, there was simply no way to challenge stronger monsters and secure more resources.
Only the major guilds had blacksmiths capable of forging level-50 Mythril equipment. Even when the guilds charged exorbitant prices, players had no choice but to pay — reduced to being cheap labor for the big guilds.
Just as everyone sat down to rest and chat, someone suddenly shouted in the team chat.
"You guys, look quick! The Shura Adventuring Team just announced on the official forum that the Adventurer's Alliance has been formally established! Anyone who wants to sign up — just head to the Shura Adventuring Team's mansion!"
"So what if it's been established? Sure, the Shura Adventuring Team might offer some benefits, but at the end of the day, they're still just an adventuring team — no match for a proper guild. Every major guild is gunning for the Shura Adventuring Team right now. Who'd be crazy enough to join the Adventurer's Alliance?"