The Divine Realm fell into night once more, and White River City blazed with light.
After nightfall in the Divine Realm, apart from a very small number of experts and elite teams who ventured out into the wilds to level up, the vast majority of players had no choice but to return to the city to rest.
And White River City was bustling with activity — but the hottest spot by far was Candlelight Trading.
The reason for its extraordinary popularity was entirely due to the basic reinforced armor pieces that Candlelight Trading produced.
Though basic reinforced armor pieces weren't as good as basic mana-infused armor pieces, the latter were far too scarce to compare with the sheer volume that Candlelight Trading churned out every single day.
Just a short distance from Candlelight Trading, on the upper floor of an upscale bar.
Feng Xuanyang sat on the second-floor open terrace, a smile on his face as he looked down at Candlelight Trading below.
"I want to see just how much longer you can keep this up," Feng Xuanyang said with an expression of arrogant amusement.
Originally, Feng Xuanyang had been somewhat worried that Candlelight Trading's booming business would prove unstoppable and difficult to deal with in the future. But during the process of poaching Candlelight Trading's talent, he had suddenly stumbled upon a secret.
It was also Candlelight Trading's fatal weakness.
Only three people could craft basic reinforced armor pieces.
With just three people trying to produce enough to satisfy the entire player base of White River City — that was impossible. Even if, given enough time, they could eventually meet the demand, by then players would no longer need them.
So Feng Xuanyang had done something: he spent enormous sums of money purchasing basic armor pieces, buying as many as he possibly could.
First, the goal was to rapidly deplete Candlelight Trading's inventory. As long as the basic reinforced armor pieces ran out, Candlelight Trading's popularity would plummet along with them — a significant limiting effect. Although the gold coins invested were substantial, the basic reinforced armor pieces were far from useless. They were a tremendous help in clearing team dungeons.
They allowed teams that had been just a few stat points short to suddenly clear their team dungeons. That in turn earned them some decent equipment, providing a considerable boost to their guilds.
Second, right now the major guilds in Star Moon Kingdom were either working hard to establish guild headquarters or saving up to purchase golden land plots. On top of that, they were tackling large-scale dungeons to raise their guilds' prestige and gear — and saving up for golden land plots required enormous amounts of gold.
And Feng Xuanyang, besides using the basic reinforced armor pieces he had purchased on his own team, also sold a portion to other cities.
Those other cities had no Candlelight Trading and no basic reinforced armor pieces. Through the Netherworld's distribution channels, he was able to sell basic reinforced armor pieces to the major guilds in those cities. Those guilds went absolutely berserk the moment they saw the pieces, scrambling to buy them. Feng Xuanyang simply acted as a middleman and raked in a considerable profit.
His move was a textbook case of killing two birds with one stone — he not only drained Candlelight Trading's armor piece inventory but also made a hefty profit from the pieces themselves. How could he not be pleased?
But along with his satisfaction came a deeper understanding of just how terrifying Candlelight Trading truly was.
Thankfully, Candlelight Trading only operated in White River City. Thankfully, only three Blacksmiths could produce basic reinforced armor pieces. If Candlelight Trading ever solved those problems, they could rapidly seize the entire Star Moon Kingdom market. And when that happened, who in the Kingdom's trade landscape could possibly stand as Candlelight Trading's rival?
The thought made Feng Xuanyang seethe with envy.