"Join the Candlelight Trading Company?"
Everyone present was stunned, their eyes fixed on Shi Feng in surprise.
They hadn't expected him to make only this kind of request.
Everyone present understood what a trading company was—it was essentially a channel for sharing resources, a win-win proposition, though its effectiveness depended entirely on the participating guilds themselves.
If the items a guild offered for sale were good, they could certainly earn more. But if their goods were mediocre, they'd be squeezed out by the products of the major guilds, leading to a sharp decline in profits. It was truly a double-edged sword.
Generally speaking, such arrangements were more detrimental than beneficial for smaller guilds. Their original resources were already lacking, and they hadn't invested heavily in crafting players, so the items they could offer were predictable—no match for the large guilds. Joining the company would be like flinging their own doors wide open, letting the major guilds profit freely in their territory.
However, compared to the temporary residence slots in Stone Forest City, this was an exceptionally good deal.
After all, within Stone Forest City, as long as one possessed sufficient strength, one could readily obtain large quantities of rare resources. Moreover, it had a tremendous effect on a guild's cultivation of experts.
"Guild Master Black Flame, you mean that by joining the Candlelight Trading Company, we'll gain access to temporary residence in Stone Forest City?" Yan Yun Shiliu Meng couldn't help but confirm with Shi Feng.
She wasn't surprised that Zero Wing was forming a trading company. With so many guilds flocking to Zero Wing, if they could unite the strength of all these guilds, even superpowers would have to tread carefully. If Zero Wing wanted to continue its struggle against Star Ring, this was indeed the best course of action.
The complete Insight Legacy could certainly help a guild cultivate many Insight experts, but that required a vast amount of time—the very thing all these newly risen guilds lacked most.
Therefore, bolstering their existing strength was a better prospect than an uncertain future.
"Not entirely correct." Shi Feng shook his head and spoke slowly, "To be precise, one must become a senior member of the Candlelight Trading Company to receive a temporary residence slot in Stone Forest City. As for how to become a senior member... that depends on what one is willing to contribute."
"I see." Yan Yun Shiliu Meng immediately understood, silently cursing Shi Feng as an old fox.
This move was brilliant. What should have been a partnership limited to only a few powerful guilds had now transformed into a situation where every guild had to cooperate with Zero Wing, and each would fight desperately for those residence slots, allowing Zero Wing to maximize its benefits.
The representatives of the major guilds also caught on after a moment's thought.
This was Zero Wing wanting them all to compete for those few residence slots, serving Zero Wing and indirectly becoming its subordinates.
"Guild Master Black Flame, doing this is highly unfair to us small guilds," one representative spoke up. "Compared to the power and resources of the large guilds, we small guilds are insignificant. In the end, these residence slots will still go to the major guilds. If this is how it will be from the start, we might as well just forfeit. We can't compete anyway, and we'd end up working for Zero Wing for nothing."
"That's right. We small guilds couldn't compete with those big guilds before, and with this arrangement, there's nothing left for us to fight for. We might as well all just go home."
The representatives of the smaller guilds now stood up, one after another expressing their disapproval and attempting to rally the other small guilds to leave with them.
This scene caused the expressions of Watering Roses and Bai Qingxue to darken slightly.
Although they had anticipated the smaller guilds might do something like this, such an organized walkout was somewhat beyond their expectations.
Meanwhile, the other major guilds watched this development with secret delight. After all, the fewer competitors there were, the better—they would be more than happy to see all the other guilds leave, leaving only themselves.