Looking at Bai Qingxue's confident smile, Shi Feng was already secretly chuckling to himself.
Wool comes from the sheep, after all — if you want to make money, you make it from those who have it. And the first-rate guild Snake of the Body was undoubtedly an excellent choice.
From what Shi Feng knew, Snake of the Body had conquered more than a dozen virtual games. But the arrival of Divine Realm had sent shockwaves through the entire virtual gaming industry — hailed as humanity's second world — causing other virtual games to go bankrupt one after another. Then countless major conglomerates had flocked into Divine Realm like madmen, nurturing their own guilds and building their own power bases, all vying for a spot in the virtual financial world. Snake of the Body naturally entered Divine Realm as well, looking to carve out a share from the jaws of countless asset tycoons.
And Snake of the Body wasn't just rich in funding — their background was solid too. Their roster of elite gamers exceeded a thousand, and those thousand fighters were immensely famous in Divine Realm, known as the God-Slaying Army. It was precisely because of these thousand elites that Snake of the Body had built a sizable virtual empire, ruling over more than eighty Divine Realm cities with populations over a million each. They were true overlords of Divine Realm.
At the height of its power, Snake of the Body's territory was roughly equivalent to the entire Star Moon Kingdom. Meanwhile, Shadow at its peak had only established ten cities with populations under a million — and even that had already made them a colossus in the real world. Snake of the Body's status was beyond imagination.
Keep in mind, the Star Moon Kingdom wasn't exactly small among the hundreds of kingdoms in Divine Realm — it was upper-middle tier at least. That alone showed how powerful Snake of the Body really was.
How could Shi Feng not want to cooperate with such a powerful and wealthy guild? It was just that working with Bai Qingxue carried too much risk. She had access to an enormous amount of Divine Realm intelligence, given her extraordinary identity, so he had to be careful. That was why he had deliberately left some openings — especially regarding the recipe for the Minor Strength Potion — to see how Bai Qingxue would react. If things went south, he could wash his hands of the whole thing.
But the current situation was exactly what Shi Feng had hoped for.
"Since you've put it that way, I won't ask for much — twenty silver coins," Shi Feng said calmly.
Right now, twenty silver coins was a small guild's entire net worth, and even for an ordinary guild it would be devastating. Even a hundred-person gold-farming party would need two or three days to save up that amount. A single run through a normal Silent Forest yielded only one to two silver. But he felt this price was reasonable — the Silent Forest dungeon was special. Being able to clear it would lay a solid foundation for everything that came after.
Hearing Shi Feng casually demand twenty silver coins, Zhao Yueru sucked in a sharp breath and nearly jumped to her feet, glaring at him angrily. "Why don't you just go rob someone? That'd be faster!"
"If robbing people could get me that much money, I'd do that too," Shi Feng said with a smile. "You need to understand — this is the Silent Forest. It's packed with Skill Books that can arm players and rapidly boost their strength. Getting there first and clearing it ahead of everyone else — the advantages down the road go without saying."
"You… can't you go any lower? This is twenty silver coins — even our Snake of the Body can't just pull that kind of money out of nowhere." Zhao Yueru had grown thoroughly annoyed with Shi Feng. But thinking about how important the Silent Forest was, she softened her tone.
"Sorry, fixed price. If you don't agree, I'll have to consider working with another guild." Shi Feng held firm. He'd already shown considerable sincerity toward Bai Qingxue. If that didn't work out, he could always approach the Assassin Alliance — they were just as deep-pocketed. They'd previously spent over twenty silver to buy a Level 5 Bronze large shield.
"Fine. Twenty silver it is. But we'll need some time to gather the funds. After all, Snake of the Body's sphere of influence isn't around White River City — it's centered in the royal capital, Star Moon City. There aren't many of our members near White River City. Give me one day. Here's seven silver as a deposit, and tomorrow I'll transfer the remaining fifteen as interest," Bai Qingxue said. She hadn't expected Shi Feng to demand such an outrageous sum, and even she found twenty silver a tough pill to swallow. But clearing the Silent Forest was too important — it had to be secured as soon as possible. She also understood that the earlier you got silver coins, the more they were worth, so she offered a bit of extra interest.
"All right. Here's the map of the forest paths in the Silent Forest, along with notes on what to watch out for when fighting the bosses."
Shi Feng knew Bai Qingxue was telling the truth — it wasn't easy to produce twenty silver coins all at once. Unlike the Assassin Alliance, which had a substantial presence near White River City and far greater liquidity, Bai Qingxue's resources were more limited. He sent Bai Qingxue an in-game mail containing a detailed guide to the Silent Forest. With her group's strength, they should be able to clear normal difficulty without too much trouble.
Upon receiving the Silent Forest guide, Bai Qingxue skimmed through it, and her heart skipped a beat.
She hadn't realized the Silent Forest was this terrifying. There were thirty-six paths in total, and thirty-three of them were dead ends. On top of that, a Night Ranger lurked, waiting for an opportunity to strike. The guide included detailed descriptions of the bosses' moves and cast times. Twenty silver was well worth the price — if she'd sent people in to scout and map the dungeon bit by bit, the cost would have far exceeded twenty silver.
Bai Qingxue's impression of Shi Feng shifted once again. She felt he was no ordinary person — he was definitely a top-tier player. Only a true expert could have such an in-depth understanding of a dungeon. But in her memory, she couldn't recall any Swordsman of that caliber who looked like Shi Feng.
"In three days, Snake of the Body is planning to take on the Dark Moon Cemetery — a Level 5, twenty-person team dungeon. Would you be interested in joining us?" Bai Qingxue fixed her beautiful eyes on Shi Feng and extended the team dungeon invitation. She had already acknowledged his strength. Having Shi Feng along for a Level 5 team dungeon might make things considerably easier.
Beside them, Hei Zi's jaw nearly hit the floor. He was in absolute awe of Shi Feng — this guy had resolved things in record flat time, winning over a goddess to the point where she wanted to invite him to run a dungeon together. What an incredible honor. Countless men could only dream of running a dungeon with Bai Qingxue.
But when Zhao Yueru heard the invitation, her mood tanked. Shi Feng was just a Closed Beta tester — at most, he'd had a few extra days of Divine Realm experience and happened to know a thing or two about the Silent Forest. But the twenty-person team dungeons only appeared after open beta — there was no such content during the closed beta, so Shi Feng couldn't possibly know anything about them. Besides, he wasn't some amazing expert. What was the point of bringing him along? It'd just be wasting a slot.
Shi Feng thought it over. A twenty-person team dungeon dropped a lot of good loot, and the Dark Moon Cemetery in particular had excellent Swordsman gear. Dungeon equipment stats were definitely superior to field boss equipment. The problem was, he couldn't assemble twenty party members on his own. Going along with Bai Qingxue sounded like a decent deal.
"Sure. But save me a few spots, and all Swordsman-class equipment and forging blueprints must go to me first," Shi Feng agreed with a nod.