"An S-rank rating?" Shi Feng looked at the system notification with a hint of surprise.
He had originally thought he'd barely managed to complete the quest at a C-rank pass, considering it had taken him nine full days to gather the one thousand strands of Mana.
He hadn't expected that nine days would be enough to earn an S-rank rating.
In the Divine Realm, very few advanced quests with completion ratings ever achieved S-rank. The difficulty of the quest itself was already formidable, and the quest had to be completed to near-perfect standards to reach that tier.
Whenever an S-rank rating was achieved, the quest reward tier would receive a minor boost.
Though it might seem like only a small upgrade, for quests at the Epic tier and above, such a boost was incredibly valuable.
If an Epic quest originally had only a ten to twenty percent chance of yielding an Epic-grade item as a reward, then after the boost, while it might still fall short of a Legendary-grade item fragment, the chance of obtaining an Epic-grade item could rise to thirty or even forty percent.
And right before him was a Semi-Legendary quest—achieving an S-rank rating meant there was a very real chance of obtaining a Legendary-grade item fragment.
Even though Zero Wing already had a fair number of Legendary-grade item fragments, each one could forge a top-tier expert or even a peak-tier powerhouse, making the road ahead far smoother. There was no faction in existence that would ever consider having too many of these.
And as the system notification sound ended, Abagrey arrived before Shi Feng.
"My adventurer friends, thank you for freeing me from the curse. I owe you all a tremendous favor. Although the Knights no longer exist, I will do everything in my power to help you accomplish one thing within my abilities." Abagrey looked at Shi Feng with none of the arrogance befitting a peak Tier 5 powerhouse, and spoke with sincere gratitude.
System: You have gained Abagrey's trust. Affinity +80. You have received Abagrey's Communication Crystal.
The group could not help but grow excited upon hearing this.
They had witnessed Abagrey's immense power with their own eyes. To have Abagrey perform a task for them—such a reward was almost beyond imagination.
"Guild Leader, with Abagrey's help, we can absolutely go and wipe out Star Ring's city! Then let's see how they dare act arrogantly!" Ke Le's eyes lit up as he looked at Abagrey.
"That's right! Wipe out Star Ring's city and see how they keep dragging things out against us!" Hei Zi nodded in agreement.
Over this period, Star Ring had not held back in targeting Zero Wing. Their biggest obstacle had been none other than Star Ring's new city, which had siphoned off a considerable amount of Zero Wing's profits. If they could destroy that city, not only would Zero Wing stand unrivaled, but it would also deal a significant blow to Star Ring—a perfect win-win.
"No. Destroying that city now would no longer serve much purpose." Shi Feng shook his head.
Star Ring had indeed constructed a city near the level-100 neutral map, but even if they destroyed it, Star Ring could likely build another. And at that point, it would not just be Star Ring—other superpowers might construct new cities as well.
After all, the experts of the major superpowers had long since reached Level 100 or above, and there was no shortage of those who had already undergone their Tier 3 class changes. Building a city near a Level 100 neutral map was far from a difficult task.
And Abagrid's favor was incredibly valuable. With Abagrid having already become a Sword Saint, even the emperors of great empires would find it difficult to obtain a single favor from him. Sending Abagrid to deal with a mere guild city would be like using a cannon to swat a mosquito.
Shi Feng then stepped forward to Abagrid's side.
"Respected Hero, I am a Blacksmith who has always been passionate about forging. I have long yearned to study Magic Forging in particular. Your research into Magic Forging is unmatched across the entire Divine Realm. I humbly hope to obtain your research notes on Magic Energy." Shi Feng took a deep breath before speaking.