After wiping out the first wave of Bloodboil Beast Warriors, Shi Feng had gained a rough understanding of his current strength.
He now had a clear idea of what he could achieve going forward and how to go about it.
Previously, he had lured only the smallest possible group of Bloodboil Beast Warriors as a precaution. From now on, as long as he avoided pulling two waves at once, he could handle two or three hundred orc soldiers in a single pull and kill every last one of them. That would significantly increase his chances of farming Stone of Light blueprints.
"The drops really are plentiful." Shi Feng collected the loot.
The coins alone totaled six silver coins — equivalent to more than half a day's income for an Elite player, let alone the various junk items and materials. A single farming run almost netted him over twelve silver coins, and if a piece of Level 40 Bronze Equipment dropped, he could instantly earn seventy or eighty silver coins.
That said, Shi Feng had been lucky — his five points of Luck attribute made such prolific drops possible.
He then scanned the city walls for patrol groups he could engage while waiting for his skill cooldowns, particularly Blazing Spirit Storm, which required a full five minutes to reset.
The moment the five minutes were up, Shi Feng would lure another wave.
Each wave of Bloodboil Beast Warriors took him less than thirty seconds to eliminate, meaning a full clear — including pulling and cleanup — took about six minutes. He could clear five waves per hour.
Since these were Level 47 monsters, the base experience was extremely generous, and the bonus for cross-level challenges could multiply it by up to twenty times. Even accounting for the fact that Shi Feng needed twice as much experience as an average player to level up, the gains were staggering.
After an hour, Shi Feng had already reached well past Level 27. Another hour of farming would push him to Level 28.
The experience was terrifying, but what delighted Shi Feng even more was that he had obtained two Stone of Light blueprints.
Two blueprints meant two money trees. The value they brought was not much less than that of Basic Reinforced Armor Plates. The problem was that Master Blacksmiths were far too scarce, whereas Advanced Blacksmith Apprentices were plentiful.
Moreover, every time Divine Grace came off cooldown, Shi Feng would open the Dawn Treasure Chest and receive all sorts of good items, including several potion recipes — Mid-grade Strength Potion, Basic Protection Potion, Basic Magic Damage Potion, and others — all commonly used recipes around Level 40 that ordinary players had no way of obtaining.
The Dawn Treasure Chest also contained some Level 30 Mythril-rank or Gold-grade equipment, all of which could be used to stock the guild warehouse.
Just as Shi Feng was farming with abandon, Melancholy Smile suddenly contacted him. On the screen, her expression was somewhat tense, though a hint of excitement and pride flickered in her eyes.
"Guild Leader, those people from Yixiao Qingcheng came just as you predicted. I've already driven them out, and the other guilds have all agreed to cooperate," Melancholy Smile said slowly. "And just as you expected, the moment I showed them the door, they started approaching our blacksmiths and blacksmith apprentices behind our backs. Uncle Tiexin and Keke both refused outright, but quite a few of our blacksmith apprentices couldn't resist the temptation and want to terminate their contracts to join Yixiao Qingcheng."
"From what those departing apprentices let slip, it sounds like they're planning to develop in Maple Leaf City."
Regarding Yixiao Qingcheng's poaching tactics, Melancholy Smile had tried to persuade people to stay, but there were always those tempted by the astronomical sums Yixiao Qingcheng was offering, and she couldn't force anyone to remain.
Fortunately, Shi Feng had prepared for this well in advance. Every lifestyle player who joined the Skyline Alliance was required to sign a contract. The Skyline Alliance would supply all materials, blueprints, forging rooms, and more; lifestyle players would receive a commission based on what they produced. The commission varied by skill level — the more skilled the player, the higher the commission, up to a maximum of twenty percent. On top of that, there were monthly bonuses tied to sales volume and a basic guaranteed salary.
These generous terms came with one condition: any lifestyle player who wished to terminate their contract would have to wipe all of their learned lifestyle professions. In other words, leaving the Skyline Alliance meant starting completely from scratch. Even if poached players went elsewhere, they would be unable to bring any benefit to another guild in the short term — the only advantage was that their prior experience meant slightly fewer resources needed to retrain them.
A lifestyle guild needed significant investment to cultivate a single lifestyle player — materials, blueprints, and especially those rare blueprints, which had taken who knew how much effort to obtain. How could they let someone else reap the benefits?
Any lifestyle player who had learned these rare blueprints and wanted to leave would also have to compensate for the losses.
Generally speaking, very few lifestyle players sought to develop elsewhere, but when an organization like Yixiao Qingcheng was willing to spend without restraint, there were always some willing to go.
Although Yixiao Qingcheng appeared to be spending recklessly, it was actually a roundabout way of hurting Torchfire Trading.
"Maple Leaf City, is it?" Shi Feng murmured thoughtfully for a moment, then said, "So they want to build up trade in Maple Leaf City first, then come to White River City to compete."
Yixiao Qingcheng had always trained lifestyle players of their own, but without their own shop, selling items was inconvenient and the costs were high — especially on the Auction House, where the transaction fees alone were enough to give anyone a headache. Small items couldn't even cover their costs, meaning there was essentially no competitiveness. But with their own shop, things would be entirely different.
Maple Leaf City was Yixiao Qingcheng's territory. Developing trade there would be easy, and acquiring land plots and reputation would be relatively straightforward. Once Yixiao Qingcheng had built up capital, dealing with Torchfire Trading would become much simpler — they would at least be on the same playing field. After that, they could resort to the simplest method of all: a price war, grinding one side into collapse. In principle, it was no different from an all-out war between combat guilds.
It all boiled down to one thing.
Attrition!
The last one standing wins!
"Trying to play the attrition game again?" Shi Feng chuckled. Unfortunately for Yixiao Qingcheng, this time they had no chance. He continued, "Smile, have someone start stockpiling high-grade stone materials and Magic Essence in bulk. Don't limit it to purchases in White River City — send people to other cities as well. Buy as much as you can, but keep it absolutely discreet. None of the other guilds can find out."
Basic Reinforced Armor Plates had their advantages, but the limited production volume kept their competitiveness in check. Stone of Light was an entirely different story.
"Got it. I'll head out and start purchasing right away," Melancholy Smile said.
After giving his instructions, Shi Feng went back to farming for levels and blueprints.
For dozens of hours straight, Shi Feng ruthlessly ground through waves of Bloodboil Beast Warriors. His experience skyrocketed, and his level surged from 27 all the way to the watershed of Level 30 — a speed of leveling that no one could match.
However, compared to the experience spent on leveling up, the experience Shi Feng invested into the Seven Luminaries Ring was even greater. He raised it by two consecutive levels, advancing it to a Tier 7 Seven Luminaries Ring.
Just as Shi Feng was about to examine how powerful the newly upgraded Seven Luminaries Ring was — The gates of the Tower of Death suddenly blasted open with a thunderous crash. A deafening roar bellowed from within, growing louder and louder, and Shi Feng saw a towering orc step through the entrance. The orc wore exquisite armor and a flowing black cloak. The moment it appeared, every orc outside the Tower of Death erupted into a frenzy, as though welcoming their king.
"The Beast King — why is he here?" Shi Feng blurted in astonishment.