Once the Envy Witch finished speaking, a system notification echoed through Shi Feng's mind.
System: Congratulations, player. You have accepted the sub-legendary quest "The Witch's Original Sin." Gather 100,000 Ancient Crystals within thirty natural days. Quest reward: Divine Rune Armor blueprint.
The notification chimed three times in succession before the Envy Witch vanished from Shi Feng's sight, as though she had never been there at all, leaving only Shi Feng standing alone before the Gate to the Other World.
"Gather 100,000 Ancient Crystals in thirty days?" Shi Feng frowned slightly, lost in thought.
He hadn't expected this sub-legendary quest to be this ruthless.
Ancient Crystals could be obtained in the Witches' Hill, but the drop rate for Ancient Crystal Fragments from monsters there was exceedingly low, and only Leader-rank monsters and above had any chance of dropping them. There was no point even considering the drop rate for anything below that tier.
Even so, the drop rate for Leader-rank monsters was below 3%, and it took ten Ancient Crystal Fragments to synthesize a single Ancient Crystal — meaning he would need to collect one million Ancient Crystal Fragments…
If there were no time limit, it might have been manageable, but the deadline made it a nightmare.
With Zero Wing City's current roster of fewer than 100,000 guild members, gathering 100,000 Ancient Crystals in thirty days was nothing short of a pipe dream.
"Looks like I'll have to rally the entire guild and give it a shot." After mulling it over, Shi Feng decided to expand Zero Wing City's membership.
The quest hadn't listed a failure penalty, which was somewhat fortunate — it meant that even if he failed, the punishment wouldn't be too severe. Still, abandoning it entirely would be a tremendous waste.
Even standard-issue Epic-rank equipment was leagues above Dark Gold-rank gear.
In the Divine Realm, standard-issue Epic equipment was a far cry from its Gold-grade and Dark Gold-grade counterparts. In terms of raw stats alone, standard-issue Epic gear was no inferior to any other Epic equipment. The only difference lay in the attached skill effects — standard-issue Epic items fell well short in that department compared to normal Epic gear.
But even so, such items were extraordinarily valuable to the major powers, especially at a time when Epic-rank equipment was extremely scarce. The blueprints for standard-issue Epic gear were worth even more.
A true Epic-rank equipment blueprint had two major drawbacks: it couldn't be mass-produced, and the crafting difficulty was sky-high. Even an intermediate Master Blacksmith had only a slim chance of success, and the materials wasted in failed attempts were far beyond what a first-rate guild could afford — only superpowers could grit their teeth and bear the cost.
Standard-issue equipment was different. It was designed from the ground up for mass production, so the material requirements were far less demanding. Most importantly, the crafting difficulty was a full tier below that of normal Epic equipment. With an intermediate Master Blacksmith's success rate, a first-rate guild could handle it — to say nothing of the current Zero Wing.
Shi Feng then pulled out a Guild Return Scroll, intending to head back to Zero Wing City and begin preparations.
At that very moment, players from all across the Star Moon Kingdom were flooding into Zero Wing City in droves, sending its player population soaring. Every player on the streets buzzed with excitement, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Heart of the Ancients. Numerous adventure teams had already begun snapping up combat magic scrolls, potions, and various outdoor supplies, poised to seize the opportunities of the new expansion the instant the Witches' Hill changed.
The entire city had become a hotbed of activity.
"Guild Master, great news!" Shuise Qiangwei greeted Shi Feng upon his return, barely containing her excitement. "Because of the new expansion, our player count in Zero Wing City has already surpassed ten million! And because of that, the Seventh Street Grand Trading Firm from the Divine Realm has reached out to us, inviting us to join the trading alliance formed by the Seventh Street firms."
In the Divine Realm, there were not only combat guilds but also life-skill guilds. Unlike combat guilds, these focused on cultivating life-skill players, honing their abilities, and producing all manner of goods and items. Many of the larger life-skill guilds had established trading firms.
The influence of these trading firms should not be underestimated either. They rarely involved themselves in the affairs of combat guilds and were not widely known among the general player base, yet their impact on the Divine Realm was no less significant — in some cases, the economies of entire kingdoms and empires were shaped by certain trading firms.
The top-tier firms cast a wide net, spanning over a dozen kingdoms and empires, and the Divine Realm wealth they controlled exceeded even that of some superpowers. Many newly risen superpowers had sourced their funding and resources from these elite trading firms.
The Seventh Street was counted among the top-tier trading firms.
Joining an alliance of such elite firms was no easy feat. Typically, only superpowers qualified, or guilds that controlled abundant resources. An ordinary first-rate guild had no standing to even apply.
"What are their terms?" Shi Feng asked.
He was well acquainted with the Grand Trading Firms of the Divine Realm. Joining them required not only qualifications but also a certain contribution.
"The membership terms they've proposed require us to provide shops in our guild towns — at least five storefronts and two virtual shops per town. These seven shops must be spread across the guild town rather than clustered together. Additionally, we must sell thirty percent of our exclusive resources from the Gate to the Other World to the firm at market price," Shuise Qiangwei explained.
"That's too steep." Shi Feng shook his head. "Tell them that Zero Wing will provide at most three storefronts and one virtual shop per town. As for the exclusive resources from the Gate to the Other World, we'll sell at most twenty percent — and only at thirty percent above market price. Take it or leave it."
Securing the trading alliance's resources certainly required payment, but the cost varied, and it had to be worth the investment.
Setting aside the fact that Zero Wing currently dominated the Star Moon Kingdom and possessed a guild city like Zero Wing City, the exclusive resources from the Gate to the Other World alone represented a handsome stream of income. These resources were nearly impossible to obtain on the open market, and with their foothold in the Witches' Hill, no guild could match Zero Wing's access to them.
Thirty percent of their haul was no joke, let alone selling it at market price.
"That's…" Shuise Qiangwei hesitated, looking troubled.
The opportunity to join the Seventh Street was exceedingly rare. The Seventh Street's reach spanned over a dozen kingdoms and three empires, and joining it would catapult Candlelight Trading Firm's revenue to an entirely new level.
To slash the Seventh Street's terms by that much so bluntly…
But seeing how resolute Shi Feng was, Shuise Qiangwei had no choice but to relay his counter-offer to the Seventh Street.
Meanwhile, Shi Feng instructed Shuise Qiangwei to begin aggressively recruiting in Zero Wing City, while he himself returned to Candlelight Trading Firm's master-level Forging Room and carefully retrieved the Domain of the Void the Envy Witch had given him from his inventory.
He clicked to learn it, then set to work crafting the Domain of the Void.