"A Smile Beckoning City has been secretly recruiting elite squads from who-knows-where. Over this past stretch of time, they've been ambushing our teams in the shadows, and we've lost quite a few people."
"Some of our Tier 1 member squads have been ambushed by them. In a one-on-one, they're no match for us, but their coordination is excellent — well-trained. Three of them working together can quickly take down our Tier 1 members. And from our initial estimates, they number over a hundred, spread out across various leveling zones. Every time we spend considerable time and manpower to hunt them down, it's futile. But if we don't chase them, they pop up and slaughter our members who are out doing quests and leveling, causing us devastating losses…"
Watercolor Rose's voice dripped with fury as she talked about A Smile Beckoning City's mysterious elite squads. She wanted nothing more than to personally go and kill every last one of them.
Thanks to those squads, over two thousand more
One had to remember that since the war between Zero Wing and A Smile Beckoning City began, the total death toll had been around six thousand — and these squads alone accounted for over two thousand of those. And this was just one day. Setting aside the loss in levels and equipment for the guild members, the death compensation alone was no small sum. If this continued day after day, the hundreds of gold coins earned from guild tasks previously wouldn't last more than a few days.
"So A Smile Beckoning City is getting serious,"
"Understood. I'll go notify Fire Dance and the others right away." Watercolor Rose ended the communication after speaking and contacted Fire Dance and the rest of Zero Wing's top combat forces.
Shi Feng, meanwhile, set down the work in his hands. He tidied up, left the Forging Room, and hurried to the bank vault.
He truly hadn't expected A Smile Beckoning City's reserves to be this deep — far exceeding his earlier estimates.
In terms of elite numbers, Zero Wing still held the advantage, especially in Tier 1 players, where A Smile Beckoning City didn't have a single one. This meant Zero Wing had the overwhelming edge, which was why they'd split their elites into two squads operating in shifts to hunt A Smile Beckoning City's members. This kept the pressure on their enemy without overly hindering their own development.
But now A Smile Beckoning City suddenly had over a hundred elites appearing out of nowhere — there was no way they could just be left alone.
Moreover, A Smile Beckoning City had obtained a guild headquarters. This was anything but good news for Zero Wing. The reason Zero Wing had been able to attract so many players was precisely because of its guild headquarters, convincing those players to abandon A Smile Beckoning City's generous benefits and develop steadily within Zero Wing. Now that A Smile Beckoning City also had a guild headquarters, offering every benefit that a headquarters entailed with nothing fewer than Zero Wing's, players would naturally lean toward A Smile Beckoning City.
But the most important factor was still gold coins!
For A Smile Beckoning City, which had an abundance of Credit Points, Shi Feng didn't consider it much of a threat on that front. After all, this was the Divine Realm — countless things required gold coins to resolve. Even with unlimited Credit Points, the amount of gold one could purchase was limited, and A Smile Beckoning City wasn't the only one buying. So their gold acquisition was actually quite modest.
A full-scale guild war was arguably the most gold-consuming affair. Beyond the massive compensation payments, there was also equipment purchasing and equipment repair costs. PvP battles consumed equipment durability at a terrifying rate. In a fight like Shi Feng's, a single sword strike could completely destroy Bronze-grade equipment — only Black Iron Rank gear could barely withstand it, and even then only for a few hits. Even if it wasn't destroyed outright, the repair costs alone could make an Elite player vomit blood.
A single person's repair costs were nothing — even at two silver coins — but for ten thousand people, the figure was staggering: a full two hundred gold coins. And the better the equipment, the higher the repair fees.
Though the repair costs weren't paid by the guild but by the players themselves, how many times could an individual sustain that over prolonged combat?
Without money to repair equipment, with weapons and armor durability hovering near the breaking point, who in their right mind would go fight? Unless they wanted to charge into battle bare-chested without any equipment just to get pummeled.
In the early stages, a guild could use Credit Points as compensation and rewards, and people could accept it. But over time, everyone still preferred to receive gold coins.
Gold was the lifeblood of war in the Divine Realm.
The guild headquarters was a guild's primary source of gold income in the early stages of the Divine Realm. Combine those gold streams with A Smile Beckoning City's astonishing financial strength, and the picture became very troubling.
Shi Feng naturally couldn't just keep focusing on his money-making plans — he had to take action.
After placing the Philosopher's Stone and several other items into the bank vault, Shi Feng took the Dragon Scale Set and used the Seven Luminaries Pass to travel to
Blackwing City had become a gathering point for players from every kingdom and empire across the Divine Realm — far more crowded than when Shi Feng had last visited. There was one major difference between the players in Blackwing City and those in other cities.
Money!
And this wealth wasn't just reflected in Credit Points — it was primarily in gold coins.
Most of these players were high-ranking members of major guilds or individuals who had come specifically for trading. The Credit Points and gold they possessed were far beyond what ordinary players could dream of. This was a true gathering place of the wealthy.
This was precisely why Shi Feng had come here.
He had no intention of selling the Dragon Scale Set for Credit Points — his goal was to earn gold. If he listed it at the Star Moon Kingdom's Auction House or put it up in the Star Trace Trading House, it would never fetch a high price, and the number of players who could afford it was far too small. Blackwing City was different — spending a few gold coins here was nothing.
Upon arriving in Blackwing City, Shi Feng found a secluded spot and used the
Unlike his usual low-profile approach, this time he transformed into a strikingly handsome young man. He also altered the style of his Dragon Claw Set, giving it a more imposing appearance. Furthermore, he didn't hide the set's glowing aura, letting the dark-gold quality radiate at full display.
Strolling down the main street, the ambient glow of dark-gold quality nearly blinded every player he passed.
"Holy crap — am I seeing that right? That's a dark-gold set!"
"You're kidding!"
"How can someone look that cool?!"
"Our guild doesn't even have a single Gold-grade set — who the hell is that guy?"
Players on the street turned to stare at Shi Feng, their eyes nearly popping out of their heads, jaws hanging open.
They were, after all, senior members of major guilds with no shortage of experience. Even if someone showed up in a full set of Gold-grade equipment, they wouldn't react this way — they'd just give an appreciative glance and move on. But a full dark-gold set completely shattered everything they knew.
(To be continued…)