Candlelight Trading Company had been expanding at a rapid pace, continuously recruiting life-skill players from all over.
Even though Candlelight Trading had two high-end shops in White River City, they simply didn't have enough space to accommodate hundreds and even thousands of life-skill players. The three-story Candlelight Trading building had the first floor dedicated to selling goods, the second floor for various workshops, and the third floor for warehouses, offices, and rest areas. The workshops weren't numerous.
Youyu Weixiao had no choice but to send the recruited life-skill players to workstations run by the various life-skill associations.
The space problem was solved, but costs had shot up considerably.
Renting an association's workstation wasn't cheap. Ordinary workstations hardly boosted success rates, so you generally had to rent an intermediate workstation—one intermediate workstation cost one silver coin per hour. For a hundred people, that was one gold coin; for a thousand, ten gold coins. One hour alone burned through ten gold coins.
Ten gold coins—enough to cover the entire operating capital of a small guild.
Youyu Weixiao had even been tempted to suggest that Shi Feng buy more land plots and build new shops, but satisfying the current number of life-skill players wasn't something two or three land plots could handle.
But now things were different.
The Candlelight Trading building next to the Auction House had been upgraded to five stories. It looked like only two extra floors had been added—equivalent to two additional land plots' worth of shop space—but the interior had expanded as well, nearly doubling in size. That meant five or six additional shops' worth of room.
With all that space, the association rental fees they'd been hemorrhering were slashed overnight.
How could Youyu Weixiao not be thrilled?
Youyu Weixiao practically wished every single one of their shops would upgrade to five stories. Then Candlelight Trading wouldn't need to rent any association workstations at all.
Shi Feng found himself amused at a loss for words regarding Youyu Weixiao.
Even in his previous life, after Divine Realm had been running for over a year, countless shops remained stuck at one-star status, unable to advance to two stars. The fact that Candlelight Trading had managed to obtain a two-star shop this quickly was already a stroke of outrageous luck.
Getting a second Shop Upgrade Order was virtually impossible—unless the Icarus Heart advanced to Epic rank, and a life-force sacrifice was offered, there might be a chance of obtaining a second one.
Shi Feng then instructed Youyu Weixiao to head to the fifth-floor meeting room and wait, and to notify Shuang Keke and Zhi Tiexin along the way.
A two-star shop wasn't just about having more space. If it were, shops wouldn't be desperate to upgrade to two-star status, willing to spend tens of thousands—or even hundreds of thousands—of gold coins to do so.
Word of Candlelight Trading possessing a two-star shop spread quickly. After all, Candlelight Trading had become a household name in White River City. Most of the city's players had bought something from Candlelight Trading at some point. Now that Candlelight Trading had quietly erected a five-story building, attracting attention was unavoidable.
"Young Master Feng, Candlelight Trading has made another move. They've somehow constructed a five-story shop—I went in to investigate earlier, and the first floor's interior is more than twice as large as before. They can display far more merchandise now," a player who specialized in scouting Candlelight Trading reported calmly.
"Five stories? More space than before?" Feng Xuanyang sneered coldly. "Candlelight Trading is quite the schemer—crafting Light Stones on one hand while expanding their shop to sell them on the other. What a shame, though. What a shame. What good is more space? All three advanced blacksmith apprentices who can craft Light Stones have already been poached by me. Without Light Stones, all that space is nothing but an empty shell."