Seeing the Void Giant Lizard collapse to the ground, the Zero Wing members couldn't help but let out a collective sigh of relief, joy spreading across their faces.
It wasn't just because the Void Giant Lizard's death had rewarded everyone with a hefty amount of experience points — more importantly, it had also dropped a massive pile of loot. The items were piled up like a small mountain, glinting and gleaming on the ground in a way that made everyone's mouths water.
As a Legendary monster, it was the kind of existence that even the major superpowers had to be wary of. After all, a second-tier team could easily be wiped out by a Legendary monster without much trouble.
As for the dropped loot, there was no need to even mention it — they were absolutely top-tier, supreme-quality equipment.
Just a casual glance revealed more than fifty items, with over a dozen being weapons and equipment, each radiating either Gold-grade or Dark-Gold-grade equipment effects.
However, among all the drops, only a single bottle of Void Blood caught Shi Feng's eye. With it, he could craft a few more sets of the Void Domain. Among the other items, only a Resurrection Potion recipe was truly valuable. The rest — level-60 Gold-grade and Dark-Gold-grade weapons and equipment — were fairly mediocre. The best piece of equipment among the drops was a pair of Epic-grade cloth boots, the Void Cloth Shoes.
Shi Feng handed them straight to Ziyan Liuyun, bringing her total Epic-grade items to five. Combined with the unique properties of the Sigh of Death, she could now compete head-on with any top-tier expert.
"Exhausting…" Ke Le slumped to the ground, fatigue etched all over him. "I never thought that taking down a Legendary boss while fighting above our level would burn through stamina so fast. If that boss hadn't gone down when it did, it would've worn me to death."
Fighting the Void Giant Lizard was nothing like facing a High Grand Lord before — or rather, the two battles were worlds apart. For over an hour straight, he had to maintain absolute focus from beginning to end. The Void Giant Lizard fought at an incredibly high level, and the slightest lapse could result in a direct hit on his body. One hit meant an instant, unquestionable kill.
He could say with certainty that fighting the Void Giant Lizard was more draining than grinding mobs for ten-plus hours straight. The stamina consumption was especially brutal. Even though stamina wasn't displayed as a visible number, judging by his level of exhaustion, his stamina must have already dropped below twenty percent. If the fight dragged on, his combat effectiveness would plummet. If it dipped below ten percent, his body simply wouldn't be able to keep up with the Lizard's attacks, and he'd be killed instantly.
Sitting on the ground to rest, Ban Jiu and Ye Wumian nodded in agreement.
Facing a Legendary monster ten levels above them, this battle was far more taxing than fighting the Void Demon Serpent.
At this point, it wasn't just Ke Le and the others who felt drained. Nearly everyone present had their stamina below thirty percent. Only Shi Feng showed no signs of fatigue whatsoever. He walked straight to the boss's feet and began sorting through the drops, leaving everyone stunned.
After all, Shi Feng had been on the front lines the entire fight. His total damage output was definitively first place, leading the second-highest by more than double. He had even helped the main tank absorb portions of the damage from time to time. By all logic, he should have been the one burning through stamina the fastest — yet here he was, acting as if nothing had happened. Even Huo Wu, one of the guild's strongest fighters, was sweating at the brows and visibly exhausted.
"Is the Guild Master a monster or something?" The second-tier experts of Zero Wing stared at Shi Feng sorting through the loot, bewildered. "Such an intense fight lasting that long, and he's not even tired?"
They were all second-tier players too. In theory, there shouldn't have been a significant gap in stamina. Yet Shi Feng's workload had been several times greater than theirs, and in the end, their stamina was nearly depleted while he was completely fine.
"It's simple," Shi Feng said with a chuckle, overhearing their chatter. "You guys make too many superfluous movements in combat, and your actual effective attacks are too few. Most importantly, you haven't trained your bodies to adapt to this kind of fighting. You're running at maximum output the entire time, so of course your stamina drains faster."
He was actually a bit surprised himself that he had this much stamina left. He hadn't expected that reaching the Realm of Truth would come with this kind of bonus effect.
"Guild Master, is there some way to train for this?" Ke Le asked eagerly, his eyes filled with longing.
Although he had reached the Realm of Micro-Management and had reduced some of his stamina consumption during normal movement, compared to Shi Feng right now, he wasn't even in the same league. He felt like Shi Feng's stamina was practically double his own.
Stamina was critically important for expert players. If he could learn this skill, then against opponents of similar strength, he could simply outlast and exhaust them to death. The stamina drain in player-versus-player combat between experts was even greater than fighting bosses. Once mastered, it would be a tremendous help whether facing bosses or rival experts in the future.
"Training?" Shi Feng repeated, suddenly realizing this was indeed a very important matter.
Stamina as a stat seemed unremarkable and didn't offer players much direct benefit, but it quietly influenced everything. In the wild, a player's combat duration was largely determined by their stamina. While various items could help recover stamina quickly, those items were rare and limited in supply — players couldn't rely on them indefinitely.
If one could reach the Realm of Truth, it would not only significantly boost combat effectiveness but also greatly accelerate leveling speed. The less stamina consumed, the longer a fight could be sustained.
With that thought, Shi Feng felt it was time to send Huo Wu and the others to the Lost Town for training.
Previously, the guild hadn't had enough combat power — Huo Wu and the others, as second-tier fighters, simply couldn't be spared. But now Zero Wing's second-tier players had grown to over a thousand, and the guild was no longer short on second-tier combatants. Meanwhile, the top experts from other superpowers were closing in on Huo Wu and the others in strength. Those major superpowers had been acquiring more and more Epic-grade items, and among them were talents who had obtained top-tier legacies. The gap in base stats was shrinking.
If they wanted to make a significant leap in combat power, their only option was the Tower of Training in Lost Town. For Huo Wu and the others, upgrading equipment further was already extremely difficult. The key now was improving their own combat level and technique.
If Huo Wu and the others could reach the Realm of Truth, the benefit to the guild would be enormous. Micro-Management combined with the Realm of Truth — with identical stats, their raw combat power would already rival that of Flowing Water Realm experts, and their control capabilities would far surpass them.
"Water Lily, notify all members of the main raid team right now," Shi Feng said to Water Lily. "Tell them to assemble at our White River City headquarters in two hours. We're holding a special stamina training session!"
"Stamina training? I'll go notify them immediately!" Water Lily's face brightened with excitement, and she couldn't help asking, "Guild Master, since it's special training, should we invite other expert members from the guild as well?"
"This training isn't something we want too many people to know about just yet," Shi Feng said, shaking his head. "Besides, we need second-tier experts stationed all over the guild's territories. Sending too many at once isn't good."
Lost Town, as a location specifically designed for training the Realm of Truth, was incomparably precious. If the major superpowers learned the truth about it, they would stop at nothing to seize it. That was exactly why he was using stamina training as a cover story. The more people who knew, the easier it would be for the secret to leak — and Zero Wing didn't yet have the power to protect Lost Town. The fewer participants, the better.
Water Lily understood what Shi Feng meant and didn't press further. She immediately began contacting the main raid team members, instructing them to assemble at the White River City headquarters.
After that, Shi Feng held an internal auction for the dropped weapons and equipment, allowing the team members to claim the level-60 Gold-grade and Dark-Gold-grade gear. He then handed two remaining sets of the Void Domain to the guild's internal second-tier members, including the Silent Blade You Ziping, and had them continue grinding in the Life Forbidden Zone — just as long as they avoided provoking any Legendary bosses. After giving these instructions, Shi Feng himself left the Life Forbidden Zone, took out a Return Scroll, and teleported to White River City.