Outside the palace of the Star Moon Royal City, lights blazed brilliantly. The entire adjacent street was buzzing with activity, as if hosting a grand festival, and players hawking their wares lined both sides of the road.
Star Moon Royal City was different from ordinary cities. Its transportation was highly developed, with a constant flow of people from other kingdoms and empires passing through. So unlike other cities where players only got a chance to set up stalls in designated areas once every three or four days, in Star Moon Royal City you could set up a stall every night — though there was a certain fee involved; it wasn't free.
Still, a huge number of players were willing to set up shop here. Compared to listing items on the Auction House and paying steep commission fees, they'd earn more even at slightly lower prices.
Players generally only chose the Auction House when they wanted to get their money quickly, or when they had rare treasures they wanted to sell for top coin.
Because street stall prices were lower, many independent players — even large guilds — would come here to stock up on materials and supplies.
That was exactly why Shi Feng had come: to buy supplies.
Trading gold coins for reputation was actually a special quest hidden within Star Moon Royal City. For players who spent all their time running Dungeons and grinding mobs to level up, they'd probably never stumble across this special quest. But for those who leveled slowly and focused on enjoying the game, discovering it wasn't too hard — just ask around enough in the Royal City, and you'd eventually pick up some clues.
The clue was that Duke Hartfelo's daughter had fallen ill and urgently needed large quantities of herbs.
With just one stack of ordinary herbs, you could complete the quest and receive some gold and experience. The quest could be repeated infinitely, though the herbs you handed in were worth more than the gold and experience you got back. Still, some wealthy players eager to level up fast would spend a bit to boost their experience. But nobody went overboard — after all, gold was precious in the early game, and no one was foolish enough to blow it recklessly.
Just when everyone assumed this was merely a special quest to trade money for experience, a few obsessive players who didn't feel like grinding in the wild started frantically buying herbs to exchange for small amounts of gold and decent experience gains.
After exchanging a total of fifteen hundred stacks of herbs in a row, they finally unlocked the quest's true secret.
Once the number of herbs exchanged reached 1,500 stacks, Duke Hartfelo would stop giving any gold or experience and offer only one thing — a Thank-You Gift Box.
This Thank-You Gift Box could contain many different items, and there was roughly a one-in-ten chance of obtaining a Book of Reputation, which granted a certain amount of Star Moon Royal City reputation.
That was why Shi Feng had come to this market — to buy up large quantities of herbs, whether ordinary or rare.
"Buying ordinary herbs, 40 copper per stack. Rare herbs, 3 silver per stack. Unlimited quantity!" After doing a quick lap around the market to check herb prices, Shi Feng started calling out in the trade channel.
The trade channel was exclusive to the market. Any player within the market area could receive these messages, though sending one came at a cost — one silver coin per message of up to 100 characters. The promotional reach was excellent, though.
This saved Shi Feng a lot of trouble.
The amount of herbs at each stall varied, and prices were all over the place. If Shi Feng tried to visit every single seller, he'd collapse from exhaustion without collecting much. So he set a flat middle price — anyone willing to deal would come to him. No need to haggle with each one individually.
The moment Shi Feng called out, a swarm of herb sellers rushed over.
"Hey big bro, how many herbs do you need?"
"Swordsman, look — the herbs I've got are top quality. Buy in bulk and I'll cut you a deal."