"A senior manager?" Shi Feng's heart soared when he heard Claude say that.
In the Divine Realm, managers were like nobles in a town — they possessed certain authorities, managed a portion of the town's shops, and influenced the direction of a town's development. However, a single NPC town didn't have just one manager. Like the contest for Heavenly Thunder Island, multiple managers could jointly govern a town.
A senior manager's authority was a step above a regular manager's, approaching that of a town agent. They could manage the town's major buildings — the Auction House, the Teleportation Hall, the Adventurer's Guild, and other important structures — rather than being limited to running a few shops.
While this still couldn't compare to occupying a town fortress of one's own, the presence of NPC garrison troops meant that, barring exceptional circumstances, a town fortress's safety far exceeded that of any guild town fortress.
Just like right now — as long as 100-level NPCs garrisoned the Secret Stone Fortress, even a massive demonic army charging at it would be useless. Unless some event was triggered that lowered the garrisoned NPCs' levels, the fortress simply couldn't be taken.
"My lord Claude, does the sixty thousand gold have to be paid right now?" Shi Feng couldn't help but ask.
Sixty thousand gold was no small sum, especially now that he'd already spent the vast majority of his coins, with barely a handful remaining.
"Sixty thousand gold is indeed a large amount, and repairing the Secret Stone Fortress will also require some preparation time," Claude said. "The kingdom's garrison troops need four days to march from the capital. As long as you can gather sixty thousand gold within four days, that will suffice."
[System: Quest "Secret Stone Fortress" triggered. The player must gather sixty thousand gold within four days. Failure will result in permanently losing the opportunity to become the Secret Stone Fortress's senior manager.]
"Thank goodness!" Shi Feng breathed a sigh of relief.
Four days would be extremely difficult for an ordinary first-rate guild to raise sixty thousand gold — they might even need to sell off some shops and land parcels. But for him, it wasn't a problem.
Especially since he'd already arranged deals with the Dragon Phoenix Pavilion and the Undying War Soul — both super-first-rate guilds were very interested in the Dark Erosion set. On top of that, he had signed contracts for Omnimagic Equipment and Spirit Silver. When the time came, he could use gold for part of the payment on additional Omnimagic Equipment and Spirit Silver shipments, and both guilds would surely be delighted. Add to that the fact that Silverwing Town's trade routes were already open, and raising the funds in four days was no difficult task.
After finishing his conversation with Claude, Shi Feng immediately headed for Silverwing Town.
Though raising sixty thousand gold in four days wasn't difficult, the money he needed was far more than that alone.
By completing the Beast King's Ambition quest, he had obtained the incredibly precious Star Moon Kingdom Port Construction Permit, and even a blueprint for a Transport Trading House. Both were treasures worth their weight in gold and nearly impossible to come by.
The Star Moon Kingdom Port Construction Permit was essentially a qualification certificate — with it, he had the right to establish an airship route. Building the airship port itself would still require a large sum of money. Fortunately, the airship port didn't require a special blueprint; as long as you had the gold, it could be built.
Even so, constructing a small airship port would cost fifty thousand gold.
Once built and the route opened, it would not only make NPC merchant transportation far easier but also allow players from the Star Moon Kingdom to reach Silverwing Town with much greater convenience. While it couldn't match teleportation arrays in speed, it was incomparably faster than ground mounts — and far cheaper than teleportation arrays as well.
In his previous life, the reason many neutral-map guild cities belonging to superpowers could develop to the level of advanced main cities was precisely thanks to airship ports. Many first-rate guilds, even with the financial means, could only develop their guild cities to the level of ordinary main cities, never reaching advanced main cities.
Only those first-rate guilds that had obtained passage qualifications could develop their guild cities to advanced main city level on neutral maps.
The difference between a guild town with an airship port and one without, when it came to raising a town's fame and prosperity, was like comparing two entirely different tiers.
An airship port didn't merely make it easier for NPC merchants to enter the town — it also possessed cargo transport capabilities. Not only was it safer, but ground-based transport took one to two days for a single shipment, whereas airships could handle it in just a few hours. Moreover, some of the Divine Realm's large NPC merchant conglomerates only operated in towns with airship ports.
There was also the matter of recruiting NPC guards. Neutral maps were far away, and many NPCs were unwilling to go there. But with an airship port, more NPC guards would be willing to make the trip. And as large numbers of NPC guards poured in, a guild town's safety rating would improve much faster.
Because of this, the development speed between towns with and without airship ports was worlds apart.
That was exactly why he'd been so envious when he saw the airship port construction qualification.
Additionally, building the Transport Trading House would require another twenty thousand gold. This facility was enormously helpful to a town's players. Once constructed, it would allow players to take on Silverwing Town's transport quests. Completing these quests would not only yield large amounts of money but also accumulate Transport Trading House contribution points. Those contribution points, along with gold, could be used to purchase certain items that NPCs only sold to other NPCs.
For players who couldn't clear high-difficulty dungeons, this was a prime opportunity to obtain top-quality equipment and items. You could even say that the Transport Trading House was several times more bustling than an auction — NPC auctions were lucky to be held once a week, but the Transport Trading House always had new items, and the more prosperous the city, the better the items inside. In his previous life, any guild town with a Transport Trading House had become a sanctuary for free players, bustling from dawn to dusk.
The airship port and the Transport Trading House complemented each other perfectly. If both could be built, Silverwing Town might not even need a month to advance to a senior town.
But constructing all of this required enormous amounts of gold, so he needed to move quickly.
And as soon as Shi Feng stepped out of the Secret Stone Fortress, the members of various dark adventurer teams and dark guilds hiding in the distance fixed their eyes on him.
"Guild Leader, do we move now?" A level-54 assassin licked his lips and asked a level-54 second-tier Ranger. "The other adventurer teams and guilds look like they're about to make their move."
With the great battle over, the NPCs who had been following Shi Feng had all disappeared, leaving the dark players lurking nearby restless with temptation.
Despite witnessing Black Flame's terrifying power, the generous bounty offered by the Soul of Darkness made them all willing to take the risk.
After all, if they succeeded, forget about riches and glory — at the very least, they'd never have to worry about food and shelter again.