With the death of the Flame Demon King, the raging fire elements throughout the entire mountain range subsided into calm.
"Finally, he's dead." Shi Feng let out a sigh of relief as he watched the Black Dragon avatar begin to dissipate.
If the Abyssal hadn't been able to transform into a Black Dragon, he never would have been able to contend with the Flame Demon King on his own. After all, the Flame Demon King was a Legendary monster no matter how weakened—his power completely overshadowed Shi Feng's, and his HP pool was far thicker. Even with only ten percent of his health remaining, the Flame Demon King could have still killed him.
Though the sacrifice of ten points to all attributes had been steep, it all seemed insignificant compared to the mountainous pile of loot the Flame Demon King had left behind.
As a world-class boss, even though the Flame Demon King had been forcibly weakened for the quest, he was still a world-class Legendary boss, and his drops were exceedingly generous.
Moreover, slaying the Flame Demon King hadn't just been about his lavish loot. The most important drop was the Guild Promotion Token—an item guaranteed to drop only on the first kill. Subsequent kills offered merely a chance at obtaining one.
Currently, Zero Wing was a Three-Star Guild, which gave it a considerable advantage over other guilds. But as major guilds cleared the Hell Difficulty hundred-player team dungeons faster and faster, reaching Three-Star status was only a matter of time.
Superpowers becoming Three-Star Guilds and a guild like Zero Wing reaching the same milestone were two entirely different concepts.
Whether it was the guild recruitment hall or the guild training rooms, the advantages of those facilities only truly manifested based on a guild's scale. The larger the scale, the greater the benefit. Zero Wing had worked incredibly hard to become the number-one guild in the Star Moon Kingdom, and even with aggressive expansion, while its combat strength might rival a top-tier guild's, its overall scale still lagged behind considerably—let alone the superpowers, whose influence spanned multiple kingdoms and empires, some covering more than ten or even twenty regions.
One could only imagine how terrifying those superpowers would become once they reached Three-Star Guild status.
Zero Wing, on the other hand, couldn't match up, because the gap in early-stage accumulation was simply too vast. Shi Feng had started from nothing, building everything from scratch. Even with every possible early advantage, he still fell short of the foundational reserves top-tier guilds had amassed, to say nothing of the superpowers.
But there was nothing to be done about it. This was the snowball effect. Otherwise, the major powers wouldn't have poured resources into the Divine Realm the moment it launched, aggressively recruiting talent. In the early stages, the difference might not be apparent, but the further along you went, the more obvious it became. Catching up was far easier said than done.
Once the superpowers became Three-Star Guilds, they would rapidly cultivate large numbers of elite players and their financial power would receive a significant boost.
If Zero Wing, which currently dominated a single kingdom, wanted to surpass these Three-Star superpowers in development speed, there was only one way.
Promote to a Four-Star Guild!
A Four-Star Guild differed from a Three-Star one not in terms of scale but in granularity. It didn't unlock any new special buildings—instead, it opened a direct channel to the Adventurer's Association, officially becoming a large guild recognized by the Association. The Association would then dispatch large-scale quests directly to the guild. These quests varied in difficulty, and some were even kingdom-level assignments.
The rewards for these quests were extremely generous, and for players, completing them would also raise their individual rank within the Adventurer's Association.
More importantly, as a Four-Star Guild, temporary guild rest stations would be set up in all Adventurer's Association branches across the Divine Realm. These stations might not be large, but they offered a crucial benefit: guild members could accept quests commissioned by the NPCs in any town, freeing them from being confined to quests only available at guild bases in a single town or city.
All guild members could scatter across the entire Divine Realm to take on quests, eliminating the problem of competing for limited quest availability and scarce leveling resources. The only downside was that a cut of the earnings would go to the Adventurer's Association, unlike quests accepted at guild bases, where the guild kept a substantial commission.
Even so, it would bring far more wealth to the guild and simultaneously boost its reputation across the Divine Realm—killing two birds with one stone.
That was the hallmark of a Four-Star Guild: no longer confined to developing in a single region.
Of course, the trade-off was obvious. Guild competition would no longer be limited to one area, and the number of rivals would only grow, making the competition fiercer.
But whoever reached Four-Star status first would secure a significant advantage—which was exactly why Shi Feng had taken the risk to slay the Flame Demon King.
Shi Feng then began sorting through the Flame Demon King's drops.
Just as he had guessed, among the dropped items was indeed a Guild Promotion Token for advancing to Four-Star status. A Three-Star Guild with two hundred thousand guild recognition points could promote to Four-Star.
"The drops really are generous. Truly worthy of a world-class boss." Shi Feng counted through the items and clicked his tongue in quiet amazement.
The total number of dropped items exceeded one hundred, the majority being various rare materials. Among these materials were incredibly rare Seven Luminaries Crystals—only three pieces, ten units in total—but the value of Seven Luminaries Crystals far surpassed that of the other materials. They were practically impossible to find under normal circumstances.
Additionally, all the dropped weapons and equipment were Gold-grade quality at level 70 or above. Among them were four pieces from the level 70 Gold-grade set Sin of Thunderfire, a complete set of the level 70 Gold-grade set Scorching Wind, and one Epic-quality item—the Hand of Blazing Flame.
The weapons and equipment might seem ordinary at first glance, but they made Shi Feng's eyes light up.
The level 70 Gold-grade Sin of Thunderfire set was the premier equipment for magic-oriented classes. It only dropped from level 70 or above野外 Legendary monsters, and as a full six-piece set, assembling it would require considerable effort even for a superpower.
The Scorching Wind set was similarly exceptional, though designed for plate-armored classes. Its fire resistance surpassed Dark Erosion, and its six-piece set bonus was absolutely monstrous—it allowed the player to transform into a God of Fire, possessing a life force comparable to that of a Primordial species.
A player transformed to the life-force level of a Primordial species might not match Shi Feng's Black Dragon avatar, but in terms of controllability, direct player transformation was far easier to manage. A player could fully unleash the power of a Primordial species, and the resulting strength was可想而知. The weakness, however, was equally obvious: damage from water and ice element attacks was doubled.
Even so, it was still extraordinarily powerful.
The Sin of Thunderfire magic-class six-piece set was equally impressive, granting the ability to transform into an emissary of thunder and flame.
It was precisely because of these two set bonuses that, despite seemingly average stats, both sets were recognized as the strongest level 70 sets in existence—even a level 70 Dark Gold set couldn't compare.
He hadn't expected to obtain a complete Scorching Wind set in one go, and four pieces of the Sin of Thunderfire as well. Just two more pieces and he'd have the complete set.
Letting guild members equip these two sets would be absolutely incredible.
As for the Hand of Blazing Flame, this Epic-quality cloth gauntlet was also excellent—not only did it provide substantial fire resistance, it boosted magic skill completion rate by two percent and could summon a Lord-tier fire elemental familiar of the same level. For magic-oriented players who weren't skilled in melee, it was a top-tier gauntlet.
After finishing the sorting of the Flame Demon King's drops, Shi Feng retrieved the Philosopher's Hand from his inventory and examined it, suppressing the excitement surging within him as he checked its stats.
Before the battle against the Flame Demon King, there had been no time to inspect the fully restored Philosopher's Hand. Now that the Flame Demon King was dealt with, he was naturally curious to see what this item—which had vanished without a trace in his previous life—actually looked like.