Rock Forest Town, Zero Wing Auction House.
"Brother Qi, your luck today is on fire—you managed to pull out over twenty magic crystals in a row!" A Level 42 Elementalist who had just walked into the auction house said excitedly to a Level 44 Shield Warrior. "If you can keep farming like this for two more days, we won't have to worry about getting that Level 45 Rage Set."
"Today's luck really has been something. I didn't expect to farm this many magic crystals back to back. Now I only need to farm for five more days to get the full Rage Set." The Level 44 Shield Warrior nodded, his eyes lighting up at the mention of the set.
The gear he was currently wearing was just a mishmash of Level 40 equipment, mostly Gold-grade. The Rage Set was a Level 45 Gold-grade set—once he could equip it at Level 45, his defense, strength, and HP would all jump by a massive margin. At that point, even taking on Level 55 Grand Lords would be within reach.
"Once you've got the Rage Set, Brother Qi, our team is going to take off. Let's see how that jerk Luo Yang keeps showing off in front of us then," the Level 42 Elementalist said with equal excitement.
Luo Yang was their classmate. They had all entered the Divine Realm around the same time, but Luo Yang had joined a team with players above Level 50. That team carried him through levels, and their grinding speed on neutral maps was lightning fast—he was already at Level 47. He never missed a chance to brag about how great neutral maps were, making the others drool with envy.
Meanwhile, all they could do was farm magic crystals in the Stoneclaw Mountains and level up at a crawl.
For any party, the most critical member was the main tank. As long as the MT was strong enough, the whole team could grind on higher-level maps. So once he had the Rage Set, their party could venture into Level 55 neutral maps as well.
"Don't worry, we're on a roll today. Let's capitalize on the luck—once we stock up on magic scrolls, we'll go farm another round. Once I've got the Rage Set, we'll head straight for the neutral maps," the Level 44 Shield Warrior said with anticipation.
The group found a spot in the lobby and sat down, opening the auction house's system interface to browse.
"Holy crap! How did Zero Wing Auction House suddenly have this many magic scrolls?" The Level 44 Shield Warrior was stunned.
Usually when they came to Zero Wing Auction House to buy Tier 1 magic scrolls, the selection was sparse—both in quantity and variety. High-tier magic scrolls were especially rare, since mainstream players wouldn't be lingering on maps below Level 50. Naturally, they wouldn't bother listing high-tier scrolls at the Zero Wing Auction House.
Even though Zero Wing City had a large player population, traveling between Star Moon City and Zero Wing City was very convenient. To get a better price, most people would list their magic scrolls at the Star Moon City Auction House or set up a stall in Zero Wing City. Very few would sell through the Zero Wing Auction House in Zero Wing City, which meant the Rock Forest Town auction house had slim pickings.
But now, forget Tier 1 scrolls—even the ultra-rare Tier 3 magic scrolls were being listed, and every type of Tier 1 scroll was available in full…
"I must be dreaming—someone's actually listing Level 45 Epic-grade Dark Gold equipment here!" the Level 42 Elementalist exclaimed in disbelief.
At the end of the day, Zero Wing Auction House was still a guild auction house. Not many players were willing to list items at a guild auction house, so finding low-level Epic-grade gear was incredibly difficult. Moreover, major guilds never sold their low-level Epic-grade equipment to outsiders—they kept it in the guild warehouse for new members to redeem. As a result, even at NPC auction houses, such equipment was extremely hard to come by; whether you stumbled upon any was purely a matter of luck.
Their usual grinding spots were far from any NPC city, making the round trip extremely inconvenient. They could only head back to NPC cities on rare occasions, so their chances of encountering anything like this were slim.
Yet here it was, listed at the Zero Wing Auction House. How could he not be surprised?
At that moment, it wasn't just them. Every player in the Zero Wing Auction House was looking on in astonishment. The auction house's inventory was so comprehensive it put ordinary NPC city auction houses to shame—everything you could possibly want was right there.
"With selection this good, we never have to go back to Star Moon City again! We can just keep grinding in Rock Forest Town all the way to Level 50," the Level 44 Shield Warrior said, practically ecstatic. "Our leveling speed will blow past that jerk Luo Yang's for sure!"
Neutral maps offered more experience, yes, but the travel time back and forth ate into that advantage. The same went for their periodic trips to Star Moon City for supplies. If Rock Forest Town had everything they needed right at their doorstep, their actual leveling speed would be no slower than grinding on neutral maps.
"Brother Qi, look! There's an Epic-grade Level 45 Dark Gold shield listed here! If you swap to it at Level 45 along with the full Rage Set, you'll be able to tank that Level 50 High Grand Lord no problem!" the Level 42 Elementalist shouted urgently.
"Definitely Epic-grade! Just equipping this would boost my defense by 20%. Even at Level 50, this thing would still hold up," the Level 44 Shield Warrior said, his breathing quickening as he stared at the shield.
As news of the phenomenon spread through the entire Zero Wing Auction House, word quickly made its way outside. Players below Level 50 who had been planning to leave Rock Forest Town one by one canceled their plans, deciding to stay and grind in Rock Forest Town until they hit Level 50 before moving on.
As for all the players in the Star Moon Kingdom between Levels 30 and 50, once they got word, they swarmed toward Rock Forest Town like bees drawn to nectar. The once-declining town suddenly became packed, and the Zero Wing Auction House was flooded with people.
In barely half an hour, Shi Feng had already earned over a hundred gold coins—and that was pure profit. As the player population continued to climb, the revenue only kept rising.
White River City's auction house benefited enormously from the spillover as well. Players who had been selling items there suddenly found their listings being snapped up almost instantly, and many transferred their goods over to the White River City Auction House to sell.
Before long, the White River City Auction House was bustling with activity. The major factions throughout the Star Moon Kingdom watched the development with astonishment, unable to figure out what exactly Zero Wing had done to make the White River City Auction House so lively—even outshining the Star Moon City Auction House, which had Star Ring's backing.
Watching all of this unfold, the members of Zero Wing felt a renewed surge of hope. The prosperity of the White River City Auction House represented income for Zero Wing.
Even Youlan, who managed the guild's finances, was left dumbfounded. Just moments ago the White River City Auction House had been half-dead, and now it was absolutely booming. Players were rushing in from every direction to sell their goods, and revenue had more than doubled overnight.
If this kept up, the income from the White River City Auction House and Zero Wing City alone might be enough to keep the guild running smoothly, without having to worry about costs.
Youlan thought so, but in Shi Feng's view, this was only the beginning.
"Guild Leader, I've already negotiated prices with the major factions in the Dark Night Empire. All that's left is signing the contracts," Violet Flower said, her expression tinged with worry. "There are a total of forty-five central or high-potential shopfronts, spread across ten major cities in the Dark Night Empire. The total comes to 1.06 million gold. I'm afraid we can't afford this—even with a two-month installment plan, we still can't cover it right now. But these factions are demanding full payment within one month…"
"1.06 million gold? Sign with them," Shi Feng said after a moment's thought, nodding in agreement.
1.06 million gold to acquire forty-five central and high-potential shopfronts across ten cities—over 20,000 gold apiece. If it weren't for Star Ring's campaign to purge the major factions, a price like this would have been utterly impossible.
"You're sure?" Violet Flower looked at Shi Feng, who hadn't hesitated at all, and steeled herself to take the gamble. "Then I'll go handle it right away."
Within half an hour, the news that forty-five shopfronts across ten Dark Night Empire cities had changed hands to Zero Wing spread throughout the entire Dark Night Empire.