In the VIP reception room, as soon as Shi Feng announced the start of the auction, Feng Qianyu and Bumie Zhanxin showed no courtesy whatsoever and immediately began bidding like mad.
"Two thousand gold!"
"Three thousand gold!"
"Five thousand gold!"
……
Forty level-55 Dark Gold weapons were immensely useful for both Feng Qianyu and Bumie Zhanxin. With their guilds' future development on the line, neither was polite in the slightest — they practically raised the bid by a thousand gold at a time, as if a thousand gold were just loose change on the roadside.
In less than a few minutes, Bumie Zhanxin had already driven the price up to twenty-four thousand gold, and once materials were factored in, the total value had already surpassed that of the forty Dark Gold weapons.
But Bumie Zhanxin couldn't care less. Even Mu Lingsha, who stood beside him, was privately urging him to fight for it with everything he had.
Right now, in the Dark Night Empire, they and the Star Ring Guild had been competing fiercely for the First Clear of the level-50 hundred-person team Dungeon, and both were currently stalled in front of the final boss. If they could get their hands on this batch of weapons, securing the First Clear would be practically a done deal.
Even if they paid a bit more in gold now, they could earn it all back later.
"Thirty thousand gold!" Feng Qianyu showed no courtesy either. With the Versatile Magic Gear and Fairy Silver already in his possession, all he needed were the weapons, and he could claim the islands in the Sea of Death.
After half a day of fierce bidding, the first batch of weapons went to Feng Qianyu for forty thousand gold and three hundred units of materials. For the second batch, Bumie Zhanxin steeled himself and refused to back down, spending forty-three thousand gold and three hundred units of materials. As for the final batch, Bumie Zhanxin wanted it too, but his guild's current funds were limited, and these Dark Gold weapons were fairly ordinary — nothing extraordinary.
In the end, the third batch was claimed by Feng Qianyu for forty-one thousand gold and three hundred units of materials.
"Top-tier guilds really do have deep pockets," Shi Feng thought to himself after signing the contracts with both parties. The excitement inside him was boundless, but he kept his composure.
It had to be said — becoming a Master Blacksmith early and purchasing the mass-produced weapon design plans had really paid off.
The three batches of standard Dark Gold weapons had ultimately netted him a hundred and twenty-four thousand gold and nine hundred units of materials, far exceeding his expectations.
With this, not only were the funds for the airship port and fortress covered, but Zero Wing Guild's weapons were secured as well.
If he had tried to sell these standard weapons individually or to smaller guilds, there was no way he could have fetched such a high price. Only by selling to superpowers could he command such a pleasant figure.
However, collecting all those materials was not as easy as Shi Feng had imagined for either guild. Feng Qianyu's side, in particular, needed roughly a day to gather everything, and Bumie Zhanxin's side also required some time.
This actually came as a relief to Shi Feng, because he could only begin crafting once he had the materials. If both guilds had paid in full all at once, he wouldn't have been able to produce everything right away. So he had the two guilds pay a portion of the materials upfront as a deposit — once the remaining materials and balances were settled, he would deliver all the weapons.
This way, he had the materials for crafting, and both guilds also had time to gather the rest.
Feng Qianyu and Bumie Zhanxin had no objections. They hadn't brought enough money with them, so paying a partial deposit was perfectly normal. It also meant that Zero Wing Guild couldn't sell these weapons to any other guild, preventing rivals from gaining an early advantage.
Not once did the two suspect that these weapons had actually been crafted by Zero Wing Guild itself — they simply assumed the materials shortage was the reason for the upfront payment.
Shortly afterward, both guilds had their people bring the materials over, delivering 30% initially. The remaining materials would take both guilds a full day to gather.
The moment the 270 units of materials arrived, Shi Feng had Melancholic Smile and Frosty Cocoa come together to craft the weapons.
Crafting level-55 Dark Gold standard weapons was a time-consuming process — one person alone couldn't produce that many in a single day. But with the three of them, all Master Blacksmiths, working together, the workload was much lighter. Add in the help of the Philosopher's Hand guiding the two of them, and the speed at which they produced the hundred and twenty weapons was quite impressive.
In just half a day, they had used 270 units of materials to produce one hundred and fourteen weapons. Combined with the original ten, that made exactly one hundred and twenty.